Masked Sorrow
by ForTheLoveOfDog
Summary: The Kingdom of Atlas finds itself home to several different people who all have their own interests, ambitions, and plans, and Teams RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY all find themselves drawn in for one reason or another. Post Beacon AU/Numerous OCs/Perspective Flips/Flashback Chapters/Volumes 1 and 2 Canon Compliant/Volume 3 Ideas Added When Possible/Status: Arc 2 First Chapter
1. A New Beginning

**A/N1: Rest in peace, Monty. Its getting close to a week, and I still have a hard time believing you're actually gone. Regardless, it's time to move on from the sadness of losing someone who's affected my, and many other people's, lives, and on to how we can honor his legacy. We were all told that, in lieu of flowers, we should do something creative. So, in order to begin that, I decided to finally begin putting to text a random idea that came to mind around a month ago, this fic. Don't expect anything amazing, I don't consider myself a good writer, but it's the least I can do, and feel free to leave constructive criticism if you want.**

**A/N2: I'm just going to give a quick overview of what my Author's Notes entail. The notes at the top are usually just a message from me that doesn't spoil the chapter, but does general reflect something involving it, or it might be something that I just wanted to preface it with. At the end, I leave notes that very much so discuss the events of the chapter, along with my thought processes and why I had events play out the way they did, or clarifications of things I think might not have been made clear enough in the chapter, but don't ruin future events. Now, that's not everything, but that's the gist of most of them.**

**Edit: So, when writing, I try and make sure I don't make serious mistakes when it comes to Canon that I'm not changing or interpreting liberally. Among the things I'm not changing is Remnant's known geography, yet it seems I did so by accident by confusing the locations of Vale and Vacuo. I've gone back to this chapter and corrected this, and edited the dialogue to reflect this.**

_Remnant, a world that has been broken and shattered by conflicts since the dawn of time. For man, these conflicts have been primarily against the forces of Darkness, the mysterious monsters known as the Grimm. However, as time passed, man began to turn its eyes away from the Grimm, and towards far more dangerous targets, each other. Wars tore apart the once unified people along multiple lines, both geographical and physiological. And while these conflicts have not truly been fought in decades, the effects of these ancient divides continue even into the present day unseen to most, and as man has been reminded of countless times over its history, just because hatred has hidden itself away or taken a new form, it does not mean it is gone…_

* * *

The young girl sat in place on the ground on top of her knees, tears streaming down her face as her older sister lay in front of her, a bloody gash running across the other girl's back. On the other side of the unconscious girl was a tall menacing man glaring down at her, the bloody knife that had harmed her sister in his outstretched right hand. "That's it, stay right there," the man grunted out, and with a quick motion, he lunged out at the unconscious girl.

"No!" The younger girl couldn't think as she saw the blow coming towards her sister, she could only close her eyes and shake as tears came falling in greater numbers. "Yang!"

* * *

"I think the city's coming into view," Ruby said, staring out the window of the airship she, Yang, and Blake were riding in.

"Finally!" Yang said, sounding incredibly grateful. "Then I'll finally be able to get feeling in my legs again."

"Oh come on," Ruby said, looking over at her sister, "the ride hasn't been that bad."

"No, I guess it hasn't been for a nearly six hour flight, after all we had a great view of the ocean for so much of it," Yang said somewhat bitterly as she rolled her eyes. "The least they could have done was let us stop in Vacuo on the way."

"That would have made the whole experience longer," Blake pointed out, not looking up from her book.

"Well at least it would have been broken things up," Yang shrugged.

"It would also involve going the wrong way."

Yang grunted in annoyance, before letting out an amused sigh, "I know, I'd just rather travel to Vacuo instead of Atlas. Seriously, how did Weiss manage this trip so often?"

"She probably took a traditional plane," Ruby pointed out as the three of them felt the airship begin to descend.

"But of course, they couldn't spare the same expense for us," Yang shook her head.

Blake just marked the page in her book and looked out the window next to her to see the approaching city, which was a blinding shade of white, broken only by a multitude of black squares and circles, along with a much larger green circle. It took a few moments before she realized it was caused by snow that still covered most of the rooftops. Even though the ship was descending, it didn't seem to be slowing down quite yet as it crossed over into the city itself. As they got closer to the buildings, Blake noticed that they seemed much larger than most of the buildings in Vale, on top of being built much closer together.

"You know, if it wasn't for the roads, squares and that park breaking up all the white, I'd think we were looking at a very large plateau right now," Ruby said. Looking out her own window, Yang couldn't help but agree with the assessment as the ship finally began to slow. They were approaching several round patches of black and grey in the snow next to one of the largest breaks in the buildings that Yang quickly recognized as a series of landing pads on the roof of one of the buildings that was right next to an immense plaza. Not too much later, the airship slowed to a stop directly over one near a rather large doorway, and as it descended the last few yards, the three of them couldn't help but notice a figure they recognized as the ship touched down.

"Ladies," the man greeted as they exited the ship, "may I be the first one to welcome the three of you to Atlas."

"Hello General," Ruby said politely, as Blake and Yang bowed their heads. General Ironwood looked between the three of them, studying his new arrivals. While Ruby and Blake were both wearing decently heavy clothing to remain warm in the cold, Yang's outfit was hardly fit for the conditions. She still wore her short sleeved jacket over a sleeveless crop top. Her left hand was still covered in a fingerless black glove, while her right arm was entirely covered in a black glove that extended all the way up under her jacket's sleeves. Her black shorts appeared as if they might have been slightly longer, but overall she still exposed just as much skin to the elements as the last time they'd met, as her boots reached up to just below her knees, and her long orange socks only reached just above her knee on one side, with her half skirt hardly covered anything in front.

Ruby's outfit was likewise nearly identical to what she normally wore, with the main difference simply being that the clothes were made of a thicker material and her cape hood having been lifted up over her head when she'd stepped out of the airship. The only addition were a pair of black gloves, but given the outfit's more covering design, this was hardly surprising. Blake's outfit was by far the most changed out of the three. Her black vest had been replaced by a black coat, although its sleeves cut off just above her elbows like Yang's. Unlike Yang, however, Blake wore a pair of long white gloves that extended beneath her coat sleeves over both arms. Each glove was also covered in her long black ribbons. In place of her normal leggings were a thick pair of long white pants with her emblem on each side, and the leggings of which were tucked into a pair of black boots that reached up to her knees. Atop her head, in place of her bow, was a dark purple wool cap she wore to keep her ears warm.

"Let me also be the first to apologize for you having been brought here so soon after your graduation," the General added as he began to walk towards the doorway.

"Soon would certainly be a good way to describe it," Blake said, glad to be able to walk again for the first time since they'd departed Vale, something that all three women were silently glad for. "It's barely been a week."

Ironwood nodded, "Yes, well, some of my higher ups were very keen on the idea of getting the three of you here as soon as possible, you're lucky you had any time at all." Blake couldn't help but smile at what Yang muttered under her breath. "As it stands," Ironwood stopped in front of what Ruby only now realized was a large elevator doorway, "I have been able to convince them to give you today to at least move in and begin to acclimate."

"Well, that's good at least," Ruby said, trying to get her sister to calm down a little faster.

"You said move in, does that mean they've provided a place for us, or are we going to have to look for one first?" Blake asked as they entered the elevator.

"The SDC has provided an apartment for the four of you to live in while in Atlas," Ironwood said, referring to the Schnee Dust Company.

"The four of us, wait, do you mean Weiss will be living with us?" Ruby asked, looking up at the General, with both Yang and Blake doing the same.

Ironwood smiled, "Yes, despite all of her father's attempts to convince her otherwise, Miss Schnee has opted to live with the three of you as opposed to remaining in the her family's building."

"Something tells me that that's the only reason the SDC decided to be so nice," Blake said, but she couldn't help but smile along with Ruby and Yang. Ironwood grimaced for a second, however he quickly regained his composure.

"So, when are we going to see Weiss again?" Ruby asked as the elevator ground to halt.

"See for yourself," Ironwood motioned in front of him as the elevator doors opened. The four of them stepped out into a lobby that would have been empty were it not for a single pair of soldiers and a woman dressed in white and blue. Ruby, Blake, and Yang quickly walked over to her, Ironwood strolling behind them.

"Hi Weiss," Ruby said cheerily as they stopped in front of her. Like Yang and Ruby, Weiss's outfit was nearly identical to what they were used to seeing her wear, with the most obvious difference being her jacket was slightly larger and buttoned up. In addition, her hands were covered in white gloves, and her legs covered in a white skin tight pants. Both articles of clothing blended in with her skin to the point of making them nearly impossible to notice at a glance.

"One last semester with the three of you, then only a week of dealing with my family," she said quietly so that no one other than the three of them would hear, "and it's already been too much."

"The four of you are to be here at eight tomorrow morning," Ironwood said. "There we will discuss the general idea of what you will be doing for your first month within our Kingdom."

"Wait," Ruby spoke up, feeling confused, "Why are we reporting to you? I know you're the headmaster of Atlas' academy, but Huntresses don't normally need to report to military officers, or am I missing something about what you do?"

Ironwood nodded slowly before turning to face the group, "Normally you would be right about reporting to me, however previous events have caused my job to change slightly."

"By 'previous events' I'm guessing you mean your dealings with the White Fang and Cinder in Vale over the last four years," Blake said.

"Correct, or rather partially correct. This current set up, while mostly dealing with my endeavors against the White Fang and Cinder Fall, it also has to do with yours," Ironwood said, looking between the four young women.

"Don't tell me your enlisting us in the military," Blake said, a disapproving tone in her voice that wouldn't have been out of place coming from Weiss.

"No," Ironwood said vehemently. "I have great respect for your profession, and so long as I have a say, I'll not have that happen."

"Really?" Yang asked, not bothering to hide her sarcastic tone. "We're fully aware of how Atlas recruits its Specialists."

Ironwood sighed, "Yes, how we _recruit_ them. Atlas does not draft its soldiers, at least not since the end of the Great War. That being said, Specialists are incredibly valuable to our armed forces, and while I may be the Headmaster of the local Huntsmen Academy, I am still a General first and foremost, so yes, I make sure all my graduates know their Kingdom would appreciate their help."

"And how is reporting to you like this any different?" Weiss asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Just like in Vale, and the other Kingdoms, Huntsmen and Huntresses act mostly on their own within the area of their home Kingdom. However, also like their the other Kingdoms, you must pass one final mission after graduation before you can start doing that, and, unless I'm mistaken, you've yet to complete this mission. Is that correct?" The four women nodded. "Then tomorrow, you will receive your mission. Unlike Vale, Atlas doesn't require you to be accompanied by an accomplished Huntsmen, so you will be on your own. In addition, Atlas also requires any Huntsmen or Huntresses new to the Kingdom complete a month of patrols following that before you gain your full freedom as Huntresses in the area."

"Alright," Weiss said, relaxing a bit. "And are we to report to you the entire month? I was under the impression Atlas used a council of elder Huntsmen set by the governing council for this kind of thing along with interkingdom missions and reassignments."

"That is true, and what is also true is that as the head of the academy, I can issue missions I feel need to be completed. And while the council can also do this, and indeed their mission orders trump mine, I can come do decisions much faster, and they do take my opinions on the matters into serious consideration while they deliberate. And as someone with those powers, I act independently of my duties to the military. Indeed, as of right now my only real remaining military concern is continuing the research and development projects I've been leading."

"Well, I think that sounds perfectly fine," Ruby said, looking at her teammates, who nodded along.

"Eight AM tomorrow, then." When the four women nodded, he made his way back over to the elevator, two soldiers taking his place, with Ruby, Blake, and Yang's luggage in tow.

The three of them thanked the soldiers as they grabbed their bags and turned to Weiss, who nodded, without a word, and made her way outside. They found themselves standing on the edge of the plaza. It had appeared large from the airship, but now it seemed immense. However, the new arrivals didn't have time to gawk as Weiss quickly turned her back on it as she began to make her way to an adjacent building, a parking structure. Just inside, she stopped next to what was clearly her car due to the Schnee family crest emblazoned on its hood. "Subtle," Blake remarked wryly.

"Yes, well, it wasn't my idea," Weiss said slightly under her breath as she unlocked the vehicle. "So, how was the trip?"

"Long," Yang answered simply, the normal cheer finally beginning to return to her voice as she opened the trunk.

"I can imagine that," Weiss said as she climbed into the driver's seat. "I have no idea what they were thinking, using an airship like that," she shook her head. "Anyway, first stop is the apartment, then I can show you to a nice restaurant a few blocks away," she paused for a moment before adding, slightly louder, "a good walking distance," she looked over at Yang in time to see a fist shoot into the air in celebration.

"So, is the entire city like this?" Blake asked, looking at the buildings as she climbed into the back. Blake's initial observations had proven accurate, the buildings were far larger than all but the largest in Vale, and almost no space existed between them, with most of them being completely adjacent. However, despite the monotonous white from above, each and every building had a decorative design and unique architecture to set it apart from the others.

"If by 'this' you mean the buildings, then almost," Weiss answered. "A few areas on the other side of Vetro Plaza are closer to what you'd see in Vale, but other than that, the rest of the city is like this bar open areas like the plazas and the park. Actually, a lot of the city is somewhat taller, the buildings around Vetro are older than most of, if not all, the rest."

"That's going to take some getting used to. This is more or less the exact opposite of what Patch is like," Ruby said, referring to the island she and Yang had grown up on off the coast of Vale, as she climbed into the passenger's seat. A thud came from the trunk almost immediately afterwards as Yang slammed it back shut.

"So, unless I'm misremembering, this is actually your first time in a different Kingdom isn't it?" Weiss asked, looking at her Ruby, who nodded.

"Yeah, the closest Ruby and I have ever come to being in a different Kingdom before this were those missions to all those small villages outside Vale," Yang said, taking her own seat in the back, "and that's far from actually being close." She looked over at Blake, "What about you?"

"I spent about a week in Vacuo when I was around seven or eight," Blake said as Weiss began driving, "but other than that I was in Vale, or at least close around it. And from what I remember, Vacuo is a lot closer to Vale in design than it is Atlas."

Weiss nodded, "Atlas is unique when it comes to city design. It was built this way to deal with the near eternal snow in the area. Each and every building is designed to be able to hold several feet of it without issue if need be."

"Yeah, speaking of the snow," Yang said, "it's the middle of summer, why is there several inches of snow everywhere? I know its cold this far north, but this is ridiculous."

Weiss laughed, "Here in Atlas, only having a few inches of snow_ is_ summer. Although you're right, it is colder here than it should be. But that's because there's a cold water current running just off the coast that keeps it from getting above freezing all that often."

Yang shook her head, "I'm so glad my Semblance means I don't have to worry about the cold most of the time."

"Yeah, lucky you," Blake said reaching up to remove the wool cap she was wearing, before pausing. "So, this is the warmest it gets I take it?"

"Like I said, it's below freezing almost all year," Weiss paused to think. "It might get above maybe once or twice a year, and even then not for long, a few days at most."

Blake sighed, and took off the cap completely, exposing her ears, both sets of them, "Might as well start getting used to it then."

"Yeah, same," Ruby said glancing back for a moment, not batting an eye at the sight of Blake without her bow before turning back towards Weiss. "So, how close are we to the apartment?"

"About thirty minutes," Weiss said. "We're fortunate it's along one of the main roads, close by to another plaza actually, we just need to get across the Central Ring first."

"So, how much work are we going to have to do to finish moving in?" Blake asked.

"More than I'd like to admit."

* * *

"Welcome back General." Ironwood had returned to his office, a plain room furnished only with a metallic desk and several chairs.

Ironwood sat down at his desk and sighed, "Do you think this was a good idea?"

"You mean having all of Team RWBY brought to the city?" the man asked. Ironwood nodded in answer. Accepting the nonverbal answer, the man took a seat. His hair was blonde, although it had clearly begun graying in several places, even if it wasn't all that much, and his skin was pale, and showed faint signs of numerous years gone by. His clothes were professional, with a long sleeved dark green button up collared shirt, with a white tie clipped to its front to keep it in place. His right hand was covered in a black glove, while his left was uncovered. His pants were black, and extended down to a matching pair of dress shoes. While he wasn't wearing a suit jacket, what he had been wearing in its place, a white lab coat, hung from the back of the chair he was now sitting in. "Honestly, I don't know yet. We'll have to wait to see how things play out." He shrugged, "But at least they allowed the team to get missions from someone who already knows all of them during their first month, and it's not like we made the decision."

Ironwood stared out the window saying nothing for nearly a minute. "True, but we could definitely have said no to the idea."

"And do you think that would have worked?" the man cocked his eyebrow.

Ironwood smiled as he took a bottle from within his desk, "No, I don't think it would have, but it would have been something."

"Since we did nothing then, we can at least do something now," the man said, taking the glass offered to him.

"And what do you suggest we do?" Ironwood asked, beginning to feel curious.

"Penny passed all your tests," the man smiled, "actually, it was more like she destroyed them as if they were nothing."

Ironwood took a sip from his glass, "Albero, what are you suggesting? You're not normally one willing to put her through something dangerous."

Albero smiled, "You're right, I'm not."

* * *

"So, that is where we're going to be living?" Yang asked, looking up at the tall building slightly down the road, her bag being dragged along behind her. It wasn't the tallest building she'd seen in the city, nor was it even the tallest on the street, but it was certainly the plainest looking.

"Yes," Weiss answered simply, as she lead the other three down the street.

"Did the architects get lazy designing it, or did they just run out of ideas?" Blake asked.

"It may be boring on the outside, but you'll stop joking around when you see the inside," Weiss replied coyly. Once they were inside, the lobby certainly did nothing to change any of the other's minds, as it was just as plainly designed as the exterior.

"Welcome back Miss Schnee," the receptionist said in a professional tone. "Are they going to be the ones moving in with you?"

"Yes, they are," Weiss said, turning to the others, "hand her your scrolls for a few moments. The three of them nodded and did as instructed.

"Thank you," the receptionist said before scanning them in to her computer. "Miss Rose," she handed Ruby back her scroll, "Miss Belladonna," she did the same with Blake's, "Miss Xiao Long," she returned Yang's before entering a few more strokes into her computer. "Your scrolls will now act as your keys. Simply scan them into the elevator to get to your floor, and then scan them into the door of your apartment to unlock it." The three younger women nodded in understanding before following Weiss to the elevator on the left side of the room. Inside, Weiss scanned her scroll.

"I guess we're on top of the world here," Yang joked as the top floor was highlighted.

"And here I thought I wasn't going to miss your complaining after five hours," Blake said. The two of them quickly started to go back and forth with one another until the elevator stopped. Stepping out, they were presented with only one door on the entire floor.

"We have the entire floor to ourselves?" Ruby asked, incredulous.

"You'll see," Weiss said, as she scanned her scroll.

Inside Ruby, Blake, and Yang couldn't help but stare as they looked around and were presented with a large semifurnished living room. Aside from two chairs, a sofa, a table, and an older television set, the room was empty. There were also a few doors. On the right wall, there was a sliding glass door next to a large window the same size that opened out to a balcony, and next to, "Stairs?" Yang asked, surprised as she stared at the staircase on the right side of the room, "there's a second floor?"

Weiss nodded, "Its definitely a unique design, although all that's upstairs are the bedrooms and a bathroom." Blake wandered into the room and opened a door underneath the stairs and found herself in a bathroom, moving on to the next door opposite the entrance, she found a decently sized dining room. Ruby followed her into the room and opened another door on the right wall of that room, finding a kitchen, which in turn had a second entrance to the balcony, and unlike the living room one, the curtain were drawn over this one.

"It feels a lot more like a house than an apartment," Ruby said as they returned to the living room, Yang having opened the last door to find an old washing machine and dryer opposite the stairs and balcony.

Weiss nodded, "The company that built this building specializes in having large apartments that feel that way. Although this is larger than most."

"So, how much exactly do we have to do for this place? Yang asked, closing the door.

"Well, most of the place only has the very bare necessities when it comes to furniture and appliances. She pointed at the room Yang was standing in front of, "The laundry room is rather horribly outdated," she pointed back towards the dining room and kitchen, "it comes with absolutely no other appliances bar a small fridge and tiny oven," and she pointed above their heads, "and the beds make the ones at Beacon seem like you're sleeping on a cloud."

"Okay, I see where you're going and it's a good thing it's still early in the day," Yang said, before sitting down. After a moment, she smiled. "I know I wasn't happy during the ride here, but now that we're actually in the city, I feel excited to see all that Atlas has to offer." None of the others were surprised, Yang was always looking for something new to do, and if there was anyway to shake things up, moving to a completely new city, a completely new kingdom, was definitely it. "And, this place may need some upgrading, but it's already feeling like a home for us."

"Yeah, just a little work and it'll be more inviting then our old dorm," Ruby said, looking around.

"That honestly isn't saying much," Blake said, taking her own seat.

"So, should we head out to the restaurant?" Weiss asked.

"Oh without a doubt," Yang said, standing up quickly. "Just point me in a direction, and I'll lead the way."

Weiss nodded, unsurprised by the reaction, "It's right outside the nearest plaza, right at the end of the road."

* * *

"Any new information?" Ozpin asked, looking up from his computer. The question was met with shaking heads from Goodwitch, Port, and Oobleck.

"The White Fang has been unusually quiet since the deaths of Cinder Fall and Adam Taurus," Oobleck said at his normal pace, as in so quickly as to be nearly incomprehensible, although his voice did take an unusual tone when near the end. "With the obvious exception not long afterwards."

Ozpin nodded slowly, thinking things through, "Such a result was to be expected immediately following the event, but it's been three months without so much as an act of petty theft." He closed his eyes for a few moments before continuing, "I would love to say this was a sign of a positive change coming over them, but somehow, I doubt that. What of the other factions that worked for her?"

"Torchwick remains in custody," Goodwitch said, "unfortunately his underling, Neo, has yet to make an appearance since then. Current guesses are that she's planning to break him out like she did the first time."

Ozpin nodded, "We've already taken that into account, but she's always been one to show that any amount of planning on our end is never enough." He turned to Port, "Any information on the others?"

Port shook his head, "Unfortunately not, the two renegades, Emerald and Mercury, are still at large, although as it stands, we've yet to come up with conclusive evidence linking them to Cinder's plot. So far it appears they were just street criminals that took the chance to visit Beacon for a while that got wrapped up in something larger than they could have anticipated."

Ozpin nodded slowly, "Fleeing would certainly support that, but it could also support them being known associates, any info on where they may have fled to?"

It was Port's turn to nod this time, "I've heard some talk about a possible sighting in Vacuo."

"Well, if no one has anything interesting," a distinct slurred voice said as the doors of Ozpin's office opened, "maybe I could join the discussion."

"Ah, Qrow, while it is good of you to join us," Ozpin said as the man walked into the office, the doors closing behind him, "I would rather skip straight to the information."

Qrow smiled, "Taiyang and I found an immense Grimm out just south of old Mountain Glenn. It dwarfed the herd of Goliaths that normally wander the area by a good margin. Looked a lot like a black mountain at a glance."

"That close to the Kingdom?" Goodwitch asked in horror. "Did you at least tag it to make sure we don't lose track of it."

"That's the thing, I didn't have to," Qrow said, standing next to Oobleck, reaching for his flask.

"If a Grimm that size was already tagged, we'd have known about it a lot sooner," Ozpin leaned forward in his chair as he said this. "Meaning that you must have had a reason to not do an essential part of your job."

"You're completely correct about that," Qrow said. "The reason it didn't need to be tagged was because it was already dead. Someone else got to it first."

"That's preposterous," Oobleck said. "A Grimm of that size would undoubtedly be incredibly strong. An entire army could face it and fail to even give it a serious wound."

"Very true," Qrow said unscrewing the cap of his flask, "but that's not everything, it had already been there for a while. Good part of it had already dissolved into nothing from what I could tell. There's a good chance that what we got to see was only a part of how large it had been before it died."

* * *

"Hello, General," Ruby greeted as she, and the rest of her team, entered Ironwood's office.

"Welcome, welcome," Ironwood said, sounding a little distracted. He quickly motioned for them to take a seat as he began pulling several files up on his computer.

After a few moments passed in silence, Ruby spoke up, "So, General, what are we to do?"

Ironwood sighed, and turned his computer monitor to face the team, "Originally, it would have been a search and destroy mission, a simple test for our new graduates."

"But," Yang said, beginning to read what was on Ironwood's computer.

"But, very early this morning, a group of Grimm got into one of the Schnee Dust Mines," Blake read aloud, her voice quickly becoming more and more downtrodden as she went on, "trapping in just under two dozen miners who had yet to leave at the end of their shift…" Her teammates all looked at her knowing why she was reacting the way she was, most of the Schnee miners were faunus.

Ironwood nodded, "Unfortunately, we don't know the specifics about the types of Grimm that have invaded the mine, nor the number. Meaning we've only a very short amount of time with which we could realistically deal with this."

"So, when do we head out?" Blake asked.

"Since all four of you already have your weapons, immediately," Ironwood answered.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yang asked, standing.

"How about the way we're getting there?" Weiss asked directing the question at Ironwood as much as at Yang.

"There's an airship waiting on the roof," Ironwood answered simply.

All four women nodded and exited the room, and silently made their way to the elevator. As it made its way to the top, Yang turned to Blake, "Are you going to be okay?"

Blake said nothing for a few moments before answering slowly, "So long as we can keep most of the miners safe, I'll be fine." Yang nodded, as did Ruby.

"More than just saving the miners, this will give us a chance to see what the conditions at the mine are actually like," Weiss said suddenly.

"You sound like you've never seen your family's own mines," Ruby said, feeling confused.

"That's because I haven't," Weiss said, her tone clearly saying she didn't want to admit so much as that. "My father would never allow me to get anywhere near them. I've heard so many stories about the bad conditions, even before meeting all of you, but I've never had any chance to confirm any of them personally. It's hard to make a case for improving a facet of the company if I have no personal experience with it after all." Blake hated to admit it, but it was probably a cunning tactic by Weiss's father.

* * *

Blake honestly didn't know what she had been expecting to see when they touched down outside the mines. As it stood, what she could see was a decently large group of faunus, all sitting around doing nothing. If she had to guess, they were probably the workers whose mine shaft had been overrun. Overall, they seemed like they were all in decent health. None of them seemed to be malnourished, or at least, they didn't give off any signs of it, but then again, malnourished workers probably wouldn't be very effective workers. As they gathered around the airship, she did notice something else that was unsettling in its own way, most of them had scars.

While scars were hardly a new or even rare sight to her given that in addition to Weiss' scar over her left eye, she'd accumulated a number of her own over her time at Beacon. Instead, it was the sheer number of scars that left her feeling uneasy. Each and everyone one of them had at least three or four scars in plain view, something that only included their heads as the rest of their bodies were covered for warmth. It made her worry about just how many they may have concealed under their clothing, a thought that made her unconsciously grab her right forearm, where one of her own scars ran.

When the door opened, Ruby was the only one to step out. "Hello ma'am, are you the Huntress they sent?" the man asked, extending his hand.

"One of them, my team's still aboard," Ruby said, shaking it.

"Your team? Normally only one is sent when Grimm start bothering the mines," the man said.

"Well, I wouldn't call an entire part of the mine being overrun simply bothering it. So, are you the one who can get us in?"

"I am," the man nodded. Ruby turned, and motioned for the others to come out of the airship. Weiss stepped out first, and even from within the ship Blake could make out the mutterings from the gathered group. Many of them expressed surprise, others were clearly angry at the sight of the Schnee heiress, and others were glad, taking the presence of a member of the Schnee family as a sign that the attempt to clear the mine was being given a high priority. Overall, they were reactions that were far from surprising. When Blake stepped out after Weiss, the various mutterings universally changed to confusion, with even the human who would lead them to the mine having a clearly shocked look on his face, for Blake's cat ears were in plain view. Again, Blake couldn't find the reactions surprising.

When the entire team was standing ready, Ruby turned to the man again, acting indifferent to all the confused voices around her. "So, the mine now, if you please." The man tore his eyes away from Blake's ears and nodded, and quickly lead them to a mine entrance that was so haphazardly boarded up the team figured it had probably been done by the miners that had managed to get out when the Grimm had made their presence known in the first place. The man walked over to begin taking them off. "Let me," Ruby said, smiling as she pulled Crescent Rose out of its holster with her left hand.

Like most people seeing the weapon for the first time, the man visibly recoiled from the sight of it, as did the group that had followed them from the airship. No one could blame them, scythes in general had a way of intimidating people, and Crescent Rose was hardly an ordinary scythe. Combined with the fact that Ruby carried it around without any trouble, the result was a sight that was unnerving and frightening to anyone who didn't know her, as well as to some who did. Ruby herself took no notice, at least visibly, as she moved over to the wooden planks and shattered the barricade with a single swift swing before turning to her teammates, "Come on," she said, before walking into the mine shaft.

Blake, Yang, and Weiss followed her in as they drew their own weapons. Weiss gripped Myrtenaster in her left hand and quickly spun the revolving chamber in its hilt to the type of Dust she wanted. Blake grabbed Gambol Shroud's hilt in her right hand, and removed the sheath by its own grip with her left, readying both blades. Yang quickly manipulated her wrists to activate Ember Celica, causing the twin bracelets on her arms to expand into full gauntlets. Ruby herself manipulated Crescent Rose so that the blade extended straight out from the end of the shaft instead of it's normal downward angle.

"Blake take the lead, Yang guard the rear," Ruby ordered. No one argued, they all knew Blake's vision was far better in darker areas than the other three combined, and Ember Celica was by far the best weapon for an area as enclosed as the mine was. Weiss took up a position immediately behind Blake as even though Crescent Rose was more usable in an enclosed area in its current form, said form, along with the enclosed area, conspired to prevent Ruby from making effective use of her speed.

The four of them moved cautiously through the mine, but as they progressed through, something felt increasingly off. They'd explored the mine for nearly half an hour and still had yet to encounter a single Grimm. Soon a full on hour had passed, and still nothing. Not too much later, however, Blake tensed up, "I hear something coming," she said readying Gambol Shroud. Weiss moved to light up the area with some fire, but Blake saw it before the heiress had the chance, "It's a lone Beowolf," she said as it approached them. Finally seeing the group, it lunged at them, and struck out at Blake. Blake however, avoided the strike with her Semblance, and, as the Grimm saw the Shadow Blake had left behind vanish, she dealt a single blow to the back of its head, killing it instantly.

"Something's definitely wrong here," Weiss said, finally stating what all four of them had been feeling.

"I think we can all agree on that," Yang said as she stepped over the dead Grimm's dissolving body. "I thought this mine was supposed to be completely overrun, instead we've found less Grimm than we'd encounter taking a stroll just outside the walls."

"Regardless we sti- what…" Blake said, spotting something odd farther down the tunnel.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, readying Crescent Rose.

"I'm not sure, it looks... like ice," Blake said slowly, as they approached it. "Yeah, it's definitely ice."

The team gathered around the wall of perfectly smooth ice blocking their passage onward. Weiss ran her hand over it, "One of the miners must have used some of the Dust to try and keep the Grimm out from where they were."

"We should at least check on them," Yang said, "If they're in there and safe, we can refreeze the way in and come back after we've finished clearing out any other Grimm that might be here." The others didn't need any time to think on the idea, and nodded. As they took a step back, Yang delivered a single punch to the ice with her right hand that caused it to completely shatter as if it was glass. All four of them stared, they'd figured the wall would have been maybe a few inches thick at most, instead it was well over a foot. Putting the thought aside, they stepped through and continued down the tunnel for nearly twenty more feet before they encountered a large round room dug out of the ground.

"This… doesn't really look like something I expected to see in a mine," Ruby said as they walked into the room, Blake silently electing to stand by the entrance on the lookout in case any Grimm decided to investigate the sound. The room was barren aside from the wooden supports spread throughout. The supports were spaced haphazardly, and looked as if they'd been put up in a hurry, as opposed to the supports they'd seen in the rest of the mine, which looked professionally done. All equally lost, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang walked farther into the room before Ruby tripped over something on the ground. Picking herself up she looked at what she had tripped on and gagged. "I-I don't think the ice was meant to keep the people in here safe…"

"What do you-" Weiss stopped, and swallowed hard. Lying on the ground next to Ruby was a body lying face first in the dirt, clearly having been hastily, and incompletely buried, with only a light amount of dirt covering him. The remains of the dead man's shirt was torn to shreds with several large gashes on his back. Ruby turned the body over and saw that he had a pair of fox ears. His eyes stared off unseeing into the distance and the arm that he'd been lying on top of was horribly mangled and caked with blood, as was his chest. Ruby closed the man's eyes, and moved to explore the room further with Weiss and Yang, Blake searching closer to the entrance way, all four of them silently cursing as they counted more and more bodies. In the end they found close to a dozen corpses, each one showing clear signs of a Grimm attack, with two showing signs of having been partially eaten.

"They must have sealed the entrance to keep the Grimm in instead of out," Blake said, feeling more than a little sick.

"I hope it was after their friends had already died," Ruby said, not wanting to think about innocent people being trapped defenseless in a room with a bunch of Grimm.

"Regardless, this is only around half of them," Blake said, feeling the same. The four of them slowly left the room, with Weiss turning back after they exited.

"Four years at Beacon, and we know how to take down most Grimm as if it's nothing, but nothing to prepare us for something like this," Ruby muttered as they paused.

"I don't think anything could have prepared us for that sight," Weiss said softly, before, more loudly, stating, "I'm going to reseal the room to keep the bodies safe. They may not be alive, but we can still come back for them later." The others nodded, trying to get the sight out of their minds as Weiss planted Myrtenaster into the ground, causing several large pillars of ice to appear and close up the tunnel.

"Come on, let's try and find the others quickly," Yang said, clenching her fists, wanting nothing more than to punch a Grimm hard enough to implant it in a wall. The others nodded, and the four of them resumed their previous setup as they moved back through the tunnels again. They had explored roughly two thirds of the tunnels when they'd found the room, and now they were moving faster, trying, no, hoping, to find the remaining miners in a better state than the others. After nearly twenty minutes, there was only one last tunnel left, and entering it they found a few more Beowolves.

"I don't know if I should take this as a good or a bad sign as to how the others are," Ruby said as she removed her blade from the last Beowolf's body.

"Let's just focus on finding them," Weiss said, not wanting to dwell on the thought as they started moving again. Eventually they found something that made their hearts sink, another wall of smooth ice.

"Please let this one be for protection," Yang said as she punched it. Moving into the room beyond, they quickly saw that it hadn't been. A glance revealed that a dozen bodies were spread throughout the room, bringing their total to every single trapped miner. However that wasn't all they found, for, unlike the previous room, this one was still occupied. A black figure was hunched over a body on the far side of the room, its head bowed low over it. It didn't seem to be a Beowolf, but they could clearly make out a white bony edge on its head. Yang stepped forward and quickly fired a shot from her right gauntlet at the hunched figure in anger.

A dark blue flash appeared over the figure's back where the shot struck, rendering it ineffective. "That-that looked like Aura," Ruby said, dumbfounded.

"Except Aura's supposed to produce a white flash," Weiss added, unnerved by all that had been, and still was, happening as the figure slowly stood. The four of them braced for combat, unsure of what to make of it before seeing that the black they'd taken as a body was instead a pure black form fitting long coat. It wasn't a Grimm, it was a person. Reaching its full height, the person's arms moved from in front of it to its sides, where Blake could barely make out gloved hands extending out of the coat's arm length sleeves.

The mysterious person turned to face them, the white edge they'd taken as a Grimm's face instead being a full face Grimm Mask. However, unlike the ones worn by the higher ups in the White Fang, it instead appeared closer to the mask worn by the mysterious woman that had come to the aid of Team RWBY several times in the past, and indeed, seeing the person from the front, the body shape underneath the coat suggested it was a tall and slender woman. However, while the markings on the other woman's mask had been red, this woman's mask was decorated with a deep dark blue, the same shade as the flash of her Aura.

"Who are you!?" Blake demanded. The mysterious woman merely turned back around and walked into a tunnel near the body she'd been knelt down next to.

Yang quickly ran after the woman, but as she reached the entrance to the tunnel, a bright white light came from it, causing Yang to take a step back and cover her eyes. After the light faded, Yang ran into the tunnel and faced where it went before stopping. "What!?" she cried out in shock.

"What is it?" Weiss asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"It's-it's a dead end, there's nothing here."

**A/N3: This chapter is very much so just laying the groundwork for the future of the fic, as are chapters 2, 3, and, to an extent, 4, and if I were to do anything different a second time around, I'd probably have started in media res with them in the mine to begin with, but oh well, as it stands, if you are willing to put up with my writing, it's very much so on the longer/slower side of things, so I suppose starting off slow doesn't exactly mislead you as to what you'll be dealing with later on, so I guess it works, kinda.**

**A/N4: As for why I'm leaving A/Ns now, well it's because I came back to this chapter and did a few minor rewrites and corrections to bring it in line with what I have going later on. Overall, I didn't introduce anything new to the story, at most a few things were just introduced earlier on, but were established in an already written and posted chapter (the name of Vetro Plaza for one) that I didn't have figured out when I first uploaded this. Also, I moved Ruby asking why they're answering to Ironwood to right when they find out instead of the next day because I have no idea how I could have possibly thought having them wait to ask made sense.**

**A/N5-P: So, the first scene, with the young Ruby and Yang. That was how I always envisioned the fic starting, well outside of the little blurb, but whe I was first writing this chapter, I just couldn't figure out how to write it. Well, when writing Chapter 12, it kind of just came to me, and I finally got the start I'd wanted from day 1.**

**A/N6-P: So, Qrow's perpetually drunk it seems. That is something I will gladly edit in. Considering part (although certainly not all) of his stupor seems exaggerated outside of private meetings, I'm extremely interested in where this is going to go in canon.**

**A/N7-P: Added info on the existence of specialists as revealed in the most recent World of Remnant, and have ideas on where I can take this down the road (as in post Chapter 13)**


	2. New Faces

**A/N1: Well, after the first chapter's slow start, we move on to one that gets going a bit faster, and has the first actual combat that's described. But, it's a flashback focusing on OCs. Now, I know that a lot of people don't like OCs at all, and unfortunately, for them at least, there're going to be a lot of OCs due several facets of this fic's nature. Beyond that, if you stick around I hope you enjoy what you read, and feel free to leave a review of what you think I can do better on.**

The girl sat on the bench, her excitement threatening to take over. The reason was rather obvious: she had managed it, she was actually here, Beacon Academy. But she also knew that now wasn't the time to relax in her accomplishments, she may be at Beacon physically, but she wasn't a true student yet, there was still the initiation to complete first, something she couldn't mess up. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she fetched a pair of long black gloves from her locker and put them on, the sleeves extending nearly all the way to her elbows. The black gloves were matched by her shirt and long pants that were tucked into her dark brown boots. Next she put on a long sleeved dark brown jacket to complete her outfit, the various dark colors contrasting heavily with her extremely pale skin. With one motion, she moved all of her long rose pink colored hair behind her back, covering up the heart shaped flower emblem on the back of the jacket.

Everything ready, she proceeded to the auditorium where all students had been instructed to wait for more information the previous day. Entering the room, she began scanning around for any familiar faces, of which she saw none. She wasn't surprised, she hadn't even been expecting to see any, for none of her friends growing up had had any interest in pursuing the same career as her, all of her friends from Signal had been younger than her, and she hadn't bothered in trying to make any friends the previous day. Instead, it was a habit she'd developed to the point of it being almost instinctual whenever she entered an area filled with people. Her fruitless scan of the room now complete, she made her way over to, and leaned on, a wall where waited as the room steadily filled with other soon to be students.

"Apparently they allow freaks into Beacon now," she heard a condescending male voice say from within a small group as it passed by. A small amount of laughter came from the others in the group. The girl bit her bottom lip in an attempt not to yell out at them. If there was anything that made her angry, it was bigotry, but she also knew it would be pointless to pick a fight about it. In her experience, conflict and violence rarely solved anything important that didn't concern the Grimm.

"Really? That's not funny," she heard a lone female voice say from the same group.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth," the male voice said.

"No, you're being a jerk," the girl said, sounding increasingly annoyed with him.

"Where's this coming from?" the boy asked, sounding genuinely surprised at the reaction he was getting. "You've never said anything before."

"That's because I didn't have a choice but to put up with you until now," the girl said angrily. "Well, I have a choice now, and I'm not putting up with you anymore!" With that, the annoyed girl stormed out of the group, and leaned on a wall far from the group but not all that far from their eavesdropper.

Seeing the group walk away without a backwards glance at their defector, the pink haired girl walked over to the now lone one. The lone girl was wearing a black, v-neck, short one sleeved sleeved shirt, with an image of two mirrored gems emblazoned on the sleeve in dark orange. Her left arm, the one lacking the sleeve, was instead covered in a long dark orange armband, which also had her emblem showing on it, this time in black matching her shirt. Both her hands were covered in black fingerless gloves, and she was also wearing a short, athletic orange skirt with a pair of black shorts extending out from under it with daggers holstered on each leg of the shorts' leggings. In addition, she was wearing a pair of short black and orange heels, and her hair was a jet black matching her clothes. Finally, her fair skin was lightly browned from the sun.

"Sooo," the pink haired girl said awkwardly, somewhat put off by the fierce expression on the other girl's face, "I, uh, I kinda overheard that whole thing…"

The angry girl looked up at her, "Oh you di- you know what, I'm not surprised," she said, her face quickly softening. The black haired girl sighed and looked to the right for a few moments, exposing a dark orange streak in her hair that also matched her outfit, before quickly looking back at the other girl and extending her hand "Oh, uh, my name's Amber."

"Rosa," the pink haired girl said, shaking Amber's hand. "I would like say that I'm surprised people like him make it to places like Beacon, but honestly, I'm not."

"Trust me, it's the same with me," Amber said, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, he was one of the best students at Sanctum, so I've been having to deal with his bul- with him for the last week."

"You're from Mistral?" Rosa asked, curious.

Amber nodded, "Yeah, there's a group of about eight of us from our year that got accepted here."

"It must be hard traveling to a completely different Kingdom just for school, I had a hard enough time adjusting to Patch."

"Patch?" Amber looked at her, clearly confused.

Rosa laughed nervously, "Oh, uh, sorry, it's an island just off the coast of Vale, it's the location of Signal Academy, and other than that and a small town, it's completely empty. Well, other than the Grimm."

Amber nodded, "So, you're from the city proper I take it?"

"Yeah, the change of scenery took a while to get used to."

"I can imagine. Although, honestly, I haven't had a chance to explore Vale yet. Our ship arrived in Vale's harbor late yesterday afternoon, so we had to come straight here," Amber said.

"I'd be happy to show you around sometime," the nervous tone beginning to leave Rosa's voice. "If your team doesn't first, I mean."

Amber smiled before looking over at the group she'd entered the room with, "Sounds wonderful. Hopefully I wind up on a team with someone less…"

"Dumb," Rosa offered, "annoying?"

Amber laughed, "I was going to say racist, but I guess the three are related."

"Attention students," Ozpin's voice rang throughout the room before Rosa could say anything else. The two girls turned to face where the headmaster was standing alone on the stage. "I know all of you are wondering about the details of the initiation."

"No kidding," Amber muttered. "All I know is that it involves a forest."

"Well, it's time you learned. Your initiation will involve you being dropped off at various points around the forest of Forever Fall. From there, you will be tasked with finding a partner, finding a relic, and surviving the night. Yes, surviving, the forest is full of Grimm, and you will not be aided by myself or any of the other staff members. Once all students have partnered up, retrieved a relic, one per partnership, and it has reached at least dawn tomorrow, a series of flares will be launched from the school signalling that you will be allowed to leave the forest. After everyone has returned, the teams will be formed." He paused for a moment before continuing, "One last thing, as soon as you are dropped off in the forest, you may begin searching around, but your partnerships, the person you will working alongside for your entire stay here, are based upon who you first make eye contact with upon landing."

"I've heard it was random selection, but that's a little ridiculous," Rosa said, a little dumbfounded. The look on Amber's face suggested she felt the same.

"Now, all of you are to report to the airships in front of the school. They will drop you off in the forest." With that, Ozpin stepped away from the microphone and walked off stage and out of the room.

"So, let's say we, uh, try and get on the same airship," Rosa said, tripping over her words a little.

"That would be nice," Amber replied sincerely.

They walked with the rest of the students to the front of the school, where they saw a tall black haired man with a large mustache calling out, "Eight students per airship!" at regular intervals. The two of them walked to the closest airship they could that seemed empty, and they were partially right. It wasn't empty, but it was close, as there were only two other students in there, a girl with short blue hair, and a green haired boy that were talking animatedly amongst themselves, and didn't even glance over at their new arrivals.

As they waited, the airship filled out with other students, and, eventually, the black haired man that had been yelling out the limit on the number of students earlier. When he took his seat, the airship took off and traveled north over the deep red forest. After travelling a decent distance, the airship began to lower down over the forest to just above the height of the trees. The man pointed at the student to Rosa's right, and indicated for him to jump. "Good luck," he called out as the boy jumped. After this the airship moved farther into the forest, and the man pointed at Amber. "Good luck," he repeated as Amber turned to face Rosa with a half smile on her face. She nodded and gave a thumbs up to Rosa before just letting herself fall out of the airship.

As they traveled to yet another point point in the forest, Rosa tried to keep track of where they'd dropped Amber off. At this point, the man pointed at the blue haired girl before moving on to its fourth point, where it was finally Rosa's turn to jump. Looking down at the forest, she felt her excitement from earlier begin to return. "Good luck," the man said, as he had with the other three as Rosa jumped. The fall, overall, wasn't all that high, and she could have easily landed in one of the tall red leafed trees. However, she opted to instead fall to the ground directly, and as she got closer to the ground, she extended her right arm out, a burst of wind blowing out from it. The Dust born winds slowed her descent enough that she landed on her feet with no issue.

Turning to face where Amber had jumped out, she smiled to herself. _Well, I've got a general heading,_ she thought, as she began moving through the mass of tall trees. For a forest that had been described as being full of Grimm, there weren't all that many that she came across on her way. Then again, she figured, Patch hadn't been all that different. Eventually, however, she heard a series of shots in the distance. She stopped, turning towards the sound. "That's not Amber… but whoever it is could probably use some help," she sighed, as she changed course, and ran off towards the sound.

* * *

The blue haired girl was firing her carbine at the small horde of approaching Grimm. The Ursai were steadily approaching, but quickly fell to the hail of gunfire. They were young, weak, and impulsive. However, even in that state, an untrained person would find themselves quickly overwhelmed by their ferocity. This girl, however, was hardly untrained, yet she was also no fool, and was steadily moving away from the advancing horde in an attempt to reach a more open area, because there were a lot of Grimm, and she'd need to reload eventually. And when that time came, she would prefer to be in a safer area.

Instead of finding a more open area, she found herself with her back against a cliff face. Cursing her luck, she continued firing. Eventually all that remained was a single Ursa, and she still had rounds left to fire. Smiling that her luck wasn't all that horrible, she fired into the last Grimm until she heard a familiar, and very annoying, sound. A clicking sound came from the weapon as the tube along the bottom of the gun swung outward to the left, signalling she'd finally run out of ammo, and her target was still very much alive, if bleeding heavily. The Ursa charged forward, angered from the wounds it had suffered, and the girl quickly dodged out of the way and moved back as she angled the carbine upwards, causing a cylinder to fall out of the tube as she retrieved a second one from the pouch hanging off her left side.

What happened next made her stare in surprise. The Ursa turned to face her, and prepared to let out a roar, when a large brown, black, and pink blur struck it in the side of the head. The Ursa twisted around, a large scorch mark on the side of its head, before falling over dead, the blow having having broken its neck. To the left of the Ursa's body was what had struck it, a person wearing primarily brown and black with long pink hair. "You're one of the girls from the airship," the blue haired girl said, feeling slightly stupefied from what had just happened.

"I am," the pink haired girl said turning back to face the other girl. "I'm Rosa."

"Uh," she shook her head clearing it, "I'm Mizu." She inserted the cylinder she'd taken out of her pouch into the carbine's tube and pushed it back into place, reloading it. Looking back at the other girl, she said, "That was some entrance."

Rosa smiled coyly, "I try."

"I noticed," Mizu replied. "Next time try and make it before I run out of ammo, though. I hate wasting shots," a slight sarcastic edge creeping into her voice.

Rosa laughed, and replied in her own sarcastic tone, looking her right in the eyes as she said it "What? And ruin the suspense? Where'd the fun be in that."

Mizu smiled, "Well, at least you can take a joke, especially," her small black eyes widened slightly, "especially since I just realized we're partners now."

Rosa's face reddened in embarrassment, "Oh- oh yeah, the whole eye contact thing." She hadn't been thinking as she averted her own slightly slanted light blue eyes away. "I was meaning to try and partner with a friend of mine…" she muttered, biting her bottom lip.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I was kind of trying to do the same thing, but hey," she shrugged, storing her weapon behind her, resting against her back. An impressive feat given that it had no strap to hang from, and the girl's outfit gave little room to hide a way to hold it considering it consisted of a light blue crop top, sky blue legless shorts, and a slightly dark blue vest that extended slightly farther down her legs then her shorts did and was only buttoned in one place over her navel. On the vest, just over her right breast, was a round image of what looked like a wave enveloping the moon. Her shoes were the same color as the vest, and her hair was the darkest shade of blue of them all, being nearly navy in shade. However, just like her new partner, her skin was a very pale that only had the faintest trace of color. "I wasn't honestly expecting it to pan out that way."

Rosa laughed, "I guess if it's not just me. So, uh, time to begin looking for this relic then I guess." Mizu nodded, prompting Rosa to begin walking off. Mizu began to follow, but stopped after noticing something that had been right in her face the entire time. Quickly realizing her new partner had stopped, Rosa turned back around. "What is it?" she asked upon seeing Mizu's face was dumbstruck, again.

"Uh," Mizu said a few times before blurting out, "you're a faunus."

Rosa smiled, and twitched the pair of pink furred cat ears on top of her head. "What was your first clue?"

This time it was Mizu's turn to blush from embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't notice at first…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say, the evidence was right there on top of Rosa's head, and it had taken her this long to see it.

Rosa laughed. "That's definitely a first," amusement evident in her voice. "I'll keep a mental note that you're a rather observant person." Mizu opened her mouth for a moment before shutting it as she blushed further in embarrassment. "Although," Rosa laughed good naturedly, "I definitely prefer it to the people who see my ears and immediately start acting all high and mighty."

Mizu scratched the back of her head, her face lightening somewhat, "I, uh, I guess that makes me feel a little better…"

Rosa nodded, amusement still clear on her face, and in her voice, "Come on, let's get going."

* * *

"S-sure," Mizu's voice echoed out of Ozpin's scroll as he observed the initiation from Beacon.

"We've some rather interesting pairs so far this year," the black haired man said, observing another pair on his own scroll.

"With some great potential," Ozpin confirmed, as he switched view to another pair of students. "Some of the Semblances these students possess are fairly rare this time around."

"Oh, do tell," the man said, switching his own view to a black haired girl fighting a Deathstalker roughly the same size as her with a pair of daggers, and a green haired boy wielding a long torch.

"I think it would be more interesting for you to read some of the files yourself," Ozpin said, transferring them to him.

As he read further down the list, the more his eyebrows raised until he finally started reading some of them aloud, "Light absorbance, water manipulation, high speed movement, illusions, this is a rather interesting list," the man said, surprise clear in his voice, "and a few of the student have documented Aura training. Normally we only wind up with maybe one or two students like this in a given year. Five or more of each is almost unheard of."

"Before today, it was completely unheard of," Ozpin said, taking a sip from his coffee as the moon began to peek on the horizon. "I think we can expect great things from this class."

"If nothing else, we can expect interesting things," the man said, reading a few names on the roster.

* * *

Rosa ducked out of the way as Mizu fired a volley of shots at the approaching Beowolves before turning to face another that had been approaching from the side, and struck it with her palm. Ice bursting out of the Grimm's back, having pierced the beast's body from Rosa's glove. She quickly turned to face yet another one as it stuck out at her. She quickly held up her arms to block the oncoming strike, the familiar white flash of her aura preventing the blow from harming her, but nonetheless knocking her arms to her left side. As the Grimm prepared to attack once again, Rosa swiped to the right with her right arm, slashing its throat with a black blade that had formed over the top of her arm and extended outward well over a foot past her clenched fist. As the Grimm fell, she placed her left hand on the blade, and moved it back over her arm, causing the blade to vanish as her glove glowed. Turning to face Mizu, she saw the last Beowolf fall to her fire, as she began to reload.

"I think we should probably start up a camp for tonight," Mizu said, looking up at the partially fragmented moon, now almost directly overhead as the sun was setting. She quickly finished her reload and returned her weapon on her back.

"What's the matter, tiring out?" Rosa asked, beginning to move through some undergrowth.

"A little," Mizu admitted. "Its just so hot here in Vale, it wears me out a lot quicker than I'm used to."

"Coming from the girl who's outfit makes me shiver just looking at it," Rosa said, turning to face her partner. Her ear twitched as she began to hear something, and really hopped it wasn't another Grimm already.

"Mine makes you shiver? Yours makes me sweat," Mizu said, feigning indignity.

Rosa laughed as she turned back to where they had been heading, "Where are you from that a little heat like this bothers you so much? Atlas?"

"Actually yes," Mizu said, sitting down. "Both me and my friend."

"That green haired boy you were talking to?"

"Barty, yes. Now come on, it's getting dark, let's just set up camp here."

"You'd melt if you ever set foot in Vacuo, and hang on," Rosa said, her ears moving atop her head as she recognized the sound nearby. She turned back to Mizu, a smile on her face.

"What is it?" Mizu asked, the adrenaline beginning to wear off from the skirmish.

"So, how much do you like fish, because I hear some running water nearby."

"I happen to love fish thank you very much," Mizu said, letting out a laugh as she relaxed.

"Good," Rosa said, as she began heading in the direction of the sound.

"So, I-I know faunus have good night vision, but just how good is your hearing?" Mizu asked, beginning to follow.

"You're not very comfortable talking about this are you?" Rosa asked kindly.

Mizu sighed, "No, I'm not. You're honestly the first faunus I've ever met."

Rosa turned to look at her partner, surprise clear as day on her face, even as it grew dark, "Really?"

"Yeah, I-I mean I've seen faunus before, but, well, where I grew up there just weren't all that many around, so I've never actually met or talked with any before. I don't know what it's like here in Vale, but in Atlas, all but the poorest of neighborhoods are almost completely devoid of faunus."

Rosa's ever present smile disappeared as she bit her bottom lip. "I… see…"

"Rosa, I didn-"

"No, no," Rosa interrupted, her face turning sad. "I know what you mean. It's… not quite as bad here in Vale, but the richer an area is, the less faunus there are that live there."

"And you…"

"Overall, my family's okay monetarily," she said, turning back to where she heard the water coming from, her voice making it clear she didn't want to talk about it.

"That's... good," Mizu said, unsure of what to say.

"Come on, the wa-" Her voice dropped off, and she quickly began rubbing her throat.

"Rosa!" Mizu said, running to her partner's side. Rosa made a motion with her arm in an attempt to say it was fine, but the fact that she wasn't speaking wasn't helping her case. After a few moments Rosa made a sound like she was clearing her throat, and made a few sounds indicating her voice was coming back, albeit slowly. "What was that?"

Rosa sat for a few moments before saying, "An old injury," her voice was back, but it sounded somewhat off.

"From what?"

Rosa swallowed a few times before answering, "My family's house burned down when I was an infant, and the smoke damaged my throat." Her voice sounded normal again. "Although, all things considered, I was pretty lucky."

"What do you mean? Does that happen often?" Mizu asked, genuinely worried, before adding, "With your throat I mean?"

Rosa bit her lip for a few moments before answering, "It happens maybe once every few days," she admitted. Before Mizu could pursue the other question, Rosa stood, and said, "Come on, let's go."

Mizu nodded slowly, then muttered, "I guess it's something you really don't want to talk about."

Rosa stopped, and took a deep breath before saying, "You're right, I don't."

"You hear- right, better hearing."

"Which brings us back to your first question," she paused to think as they reached an opening in the trees around the river she'd heard. The river, or stream given its size, was full of clear water that exposed the green colored growth within that contrasted the red of the forest around it. "Honestly, I'm not sure how much better my hearing is over you or any faunus that don't have a second set of ears. As you've demonstrated, I can make out sounds you can't from much farther away, but I can't give it hard number. Now, you mind helping me catch some of these fish?" Rosa stepped up to the edge of the river.

Mizu nodded, "I would," before she could say anything else, Rosa's arm shot into the water, and came out with a fish skewered on the tip of the blade on her right arm. "Impressive."

"Years of practice," Rosa said with pride. "Now let's see what you've got."

Mizu smiled. "Like I said, it was impressive, but doing better is hardly a challenge."

"Oh this should be entertaining," Rosa said with skepticism. Mizu merely smiled, and stepped forward to the edge of the water, and aimed her palms at the water and stood there for a few moments. "Are you going to lift the fish out of the water with your mind?" Rosa asked, a snarky tone entering her voice.

Mizu smiled, "Not the fish no," she said before raising her hands upwards. A large bubble of water lifted itself out of the river, a number of fish swimming around in it in confused and erratic paths.

"Okay, that's just not fair," Rosa said as Mizu manipulated the water over the land and let it spill out on the ground, leaving behind a large number of fish flopping on the land.

Mizu laughed, "Hey, you never ruled Semblances as being unallowed."

Rosa grumbled a little before putting her left hand on the tip of her blade and moved her hand back over her arm, causing the blade to disappear as the glove glowed.

"Do you have Dust embedded in that glove?" Mizu asked, curiosity coming over her.

Rosa nodded, "In both gloves. Let's set up camp, and I'll give you some more information."

"Sounds like a plan, but we've not got much to set up."

"Hey, I didn't say it was going to be much of a camp," Rosa pointed out.

"True," Mizu conceded, as she picked up the fish while Rosa began collecting wood. The two of them moved away from the wet ground where Mizu had caught the fish to a drier area atop a small hill. Rosa set the wood down, and blasted a small fireball from her left glove at the pile of wood, igniting it. The two of them began preparing the fish and eventually set to cooking them. "So, about that info?"

Rosa nodded, and rolled up the left sleeve of her jacket, revealing the full glove. "The only Dust actually embedded in the gloves are for forming blades like I used on the fish." She demonstrated by forming a blade over her left arm identical to the one she'd formed over her right. The red glow on her gloves ending as the blade finished forming.

"And yet you produced fire for us," Mizu nodded at the campfire they were cooking their fish on.

"I said embedded in the glove," Rosa said as she deformed the blade back into the glove, "there's more than one way to hide Dust in clothing." She ran her finger over the back end of the glove near her elbow for a few moments before she began picking at something.

"What are you-" Mizu stopped, when Rosa pulled out a long rod filled with green dust.

"Wind," Rosa said, handing it over to her partner.

"This is pretty thin," Mizu pointed out.

"It's also not the greatest quality," Rosa admitted. "But it's the best I can do, and the amount between my gloves and boots can keep me going for a long time."

"Wait, your boots?" Mizu looked at her curious.

Rosa nodded, "My boots have dust filled rods in them too. Although they don't hold as much, they work when I need them to."

Mizu's eyes widened remembering the scorch mark on the Ursa Rosa had collided with earlier, but then something struck her, "How do you even distinguish between what Dust type you want? These rods are very thin, and you're bound to have a number of them."

"I just channel my Aura through the rod holding the type of Dust I want," Rosa said, taking the wind rod back from Mizu, and began inserting it back into her glove.

"How?" Mizu asked in surprise.

Rosa shrugged, "I've been taught how to manipulate my Aura since I was very young. I just manipulate it along a small area- wait, here, let me show you." She took off her left glove, and held out her arm to be in clear view of the campfire. A thin blue glow began to appear along a the length of her arm. "This would activate the Wind Dust," she said as the glow moved along her arm and covered her hand. "Doing this I can bring the dust from the rod its stored into to around my hands where I can release it for an attack."

"I never knew it was possible to manipulate Aura like that," Mizu said in slight awe. "I, mean, I know it's the basis of our Semblances, but I had no idea you could do that."

Rosa nodded, "A lot of people apparently don't." The blue glow disappeared from her hand and reappeared on the underside of her arm, "This produced the fire. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, two. the first is, can you teach me how to do that?" Mizu looked up at her partner.

"I make no promises, but I can try," she said as the glow disappeared completely and she began to put her glove back on.

"Okay, and the second is about the coloring. I've only ever seen Aura flash white before."

Rosa nodded, "The basic barrier Aura projects around your body does flash white when it deflects an attack, but when manipulating it, it takes on a color different for each person. Next time you use your semblance, take a closer look at your hands."

Mizu nodded, feeling a slight embarrassment, and instead of continuing the conversation, she opted to eat in silence for a bit until Rosa spoke up again.

"I'm guessing you weren't the best student when it came to Aura," Rosa said.

Mizu laughed, her embarrassment growing slightly, "No, I wasn't, and my training was far more weapons focused than Aura."

Rosa nodded. "Speaking of weapons, I told you about my weapons, what about your gun?"

"How about I show you next time we get into a fight? The way it works is a lot more obvious than your gloves."

"Deal," Rosa said happily as she finished eating.

"I guess it's time to decide who'll have what shift through the night," Mizu said, stretching a bit.

"Well," Rosa said, looking up, "there's still some light out and will be for a little while. If you take first shift, I can take over after it gets completely dark." Mizu turned to argue, but then remembered her partner had far better night vision than she did and quickly agreed.

* * *

"Mizu!"

Mizu's eyes snapped open as she quickly sat up. It was nearly dawn, and the area was beginning to lighten back up. "What's wrong?" she asked, feeling a little groggy.

"Oh, not much," she heard Rosa say, slight urgency in her voice. Mizu quickly hopped up, hearing a number of growls coming from her left. She grabbed her carbine, and ran down to see Rosa surrounded by a number of Beowolves. Quickly firing towards the one closest to her in the back, Mizu was able to take it out, leaving Rosa with an opening to escape, as well as distracting the two Beowolves that were flanking the one that fell. Those two then fell to a bolt of electricity shot from each of Rosa's gloves as she passed by.

Unlike the two groups they'd dealt with yesterday, these Grimm had a decent number of years behind them, and, as such, were far less impulsive. They quickly moved together as a pack, and moved to circle the two girls. "Not so fast," Mizu said, waving her carbine to the left with only her right hand. The water behind the Beowolves along the river rose and surrounded their legs, and with a quick downward motion from Mizu's left hand, flash froze, trapping them in place.

With a few of them now trapped, Rosa sprang back into action, reforming the blade over her right arm and quickly stabbed a Beowolf that had gotten a little too close for her comfort. Mizu, meanwhile, manipulated the bottom part of her carbine with her left hand and moved it towards the grip before pulling outward, causing the weapon to begin to shift form. The bottom of the gun moved around and covered the front, preventing it from firing. The top moved the opposite direction, and covered the back end, with all three sections elongating as the inner workings of the carbine, all compartmentalized into long tubes, shifted outward, allowing the outer sections to close in, forming a long staff.

Taking the staff, Mizu began striking the various Beowolves, knocking them towards the water, where she would move the staff again, manipulating the river water to strike the Grimm, freezing it to pierce their bodies with numerous small thin pointed blades of ice. On the other side, Rosa was attacking the various Grimm several at a time. She ran over to one Beowolf, and struck it with the blade on her right arm, and would then send ice into the wound, enlarging it. When another Beowolf lunged at her, she let loose a stream of fire to put it down, along with a few others caught in the blast. She then turned to yet another Beowolf, and struck at it with her blade as well, before shocking it with a short pulse of electricity. Finally, she kicked out at one that tried to move in behind her, a burst of wind shooting out of her boot sending it flying over the water where a large pillar of ice impaled it, finishing it off.

Rosa walked over to her partner, who was knelt over panting. "Out of shape?" she teased.

Mizu glared at her for a second before smiling. "Oh haha, I… get tired… quickly when I… change the… state of water… a lot in… a short period… of time...," she said trying to catch her breath. A few moments later, she stood back up straight taking one final deep breath. "Well, we're up, I guess we should get going and look for that relic."

"If you're sure."

"I am," Mizu said, changing her staff back into its carbine form. "You just might have to take the lead if we encounter another group." Rosa nodded, and they began walking along the river. Not even thirty minutes later, they came across a broken stone road. Looking at each other they quickly nodded and began walking down the road, quickly coming along a crumbling structure filled with numerous pedestals. "This is the Atlas Coat of Arms," Mizu said, picking one of the round stone tablets up from a pedestal.

"And this is Vale's," Rosa said, examining another one, this one made of metal rather than stone. "Something about this just screams to me that these are the relics."

"Really? These assorted tablets lying around in an orderly fashion?" Mizu said, her sarcastic tone returning.

"Yeah, but I really couldn't tell you why though," Rosa said, her own tone returning. "Now come on, we have ours," she pointed at the one Mizu was holding. "Let's start heading back."

"Sounds like a plan," Mizu smiled, putting the tablet in her pouch.

* * *

"Looks like that's the last relic gone," the black haired man said as he watched a pair of boys take a metal Coat of Arms for Vacuo. "It's truly been an interesting initiation."

"That it has," Ozpin agreed as he walked over to the flare display. "But now it must come to an end."

The man smiled. "Splendid, then I shall travel down to meet them," he said as he picked up what appeared to be a battle axe.

"Remember," Ozpin said, as he began to walk back towards the auditorium, "any Grimm are to be taken care of by the students, not you." The man's face fell for a second, but he quickly recovered and nodded. As Ozpin walked away, he spoke into his scroll, delivering a message across the campus, "Attention all students, you are to report to the Auditorium at five this afternoon to watch the formation of this year's newest teams."

* * *

"Ah, finally spotted you!" Mizu called out in the back area behind the auditorium. She dragged Rosa across the area to the green haired boy from the airship, her old friend. Getting close she saw that his outfit was unkempt but somewhat professional looking. He was wearing a long green trenchcoat over a white shirt and khakis, a far cry from Mizu's outfit.

At the sounds of them approaching, he turned to face them, "Mizu, there you are," he said, speaking very quickly. "Is this your partner?" he turned to look at Rosa.

"Uh," Rosa spoke, put off by the sudden introduction, "I-I am." The girl standing next to the green haired boy perked her head up and turned to face the rest of the group. It was Amber.

"Well, this is a surprise," she said.

"You two know each other?" Mizu asked. Rosa nodded.

"Well, that works out then," the boy said, not slowing down at all.

"Welcome back to Beacon," Ozpin said, addressing the students as a whole in the room. "Now, for the information on your teams. As some of you may have noticed when you found the relics, every one of them was a part of a matching pair. Teams are determined by who picked what relic," as he said this the monitor next to him lit up listing groups of four people. "Based upon that, these are your teams. You will be called in the order listed on this monitor. You will go up on stage with me, have your team names announced, as well as your team leader, you will then report to Peter here on the other side of the stage for more information," he said, motioning to the black haired man.

Ozpin then left the room as the students scanned the board for their teams. Amber was the first to find her name, and laughed. "Things really did work out," she pointed at the third team on the list, AMBR. It was the four of them.

"Yes, and something tells me you might be our team leader," Mizu said. Amber raised one of her eyebrows but said nothing as the first team was called out, paired together for having collected the bronze Mistral Coat of Arms.

"I guess I'll be showing you around Vale after all," Rosa said to Amber, a small smile appearing on the black haired girl's face.

Once again, Rosa felt the excitement build back up as she waited for their team to be called, and this time, she didn't try to suppress it. A minute later, the second team was called, having collected the stone Vale Coat of Arms, then it was their turn. "Having collected the stone Atlas Coat of Arms: Amber Erudite, Ao Mizu," both Amber and Rosa glanced at the blue haired girl at the mention of her name, and Rosa heard a few mumbles in the crowd watching them as well, "Bartholomew Oobleck, and Rosa Demure. Together, they form Team AMBR, lead by," he motioned towards Amber, "Amber Erudite." A round of polite clapping echoed throughout the hall, as the students proceeded over to the black haired man, Peter.

"From this point on, I'll be one of your teachers," he said kindly. "My name is Peter Port, and if you have an issue, you can come to me about it." The four of them nodded, and he handed them out their scrolls. "These will act as your keys around campus. Whatever you do, do not lose them or it will be expensive to replace. It also has a map of the campus, your course schedule, and your dorm room. Beyond that, you are free to do with what you will with it so long as it's not illegal."

The four of them then walked to a set of empty seats next to the the previous team that had been announced. Rosa leaned over and whispered to Mizu, "Mind if I have a word with you after this?" Mizu nodded, already thinking she knew what it was. Time passed quickly as they were introduced to their future classmates and Ozpin gave yet another speech. After all was said and done, the team stood, and began to walk to their room, night having long since fallen.

"You two go on ahead, Rosa and I have something to talk about," Mizu said, knowing it would be a bad idea to delay the coming discussion, regardless of how much she wanted to. Amber and Oobleck nodded and walked off. Mizu sighed, and motioned with her head over to an artificial pond of water within the gardens they had been walking through. Rosa nodded and the two of them walked over to it. Sitting down at the edge of it, Rosa crossed her legs, while Mizu removed her shoes and socks and put her feet into the water.

"_Ao_ Mizu," Rosa said emphasizing her partner's family name.

Mizu nodded, "Yes."

"From Atlas."

"Yes."

"I'm guessing that that's not just some coincidence," Rosa said, looking up at the moon overhead.

Mizu shook her head, "Not at all."

"And the reason why you never mentioned this was…?"

Mizu sighed, "Because in Atlas, I can hardly go anywhere without being recognized. From time to time, I can avoid detection with a new outfit, but it's never for long. And I'm not even the heir to my family's business. I have two older brothers. Key word being older. Neither of them even have any interest in any kind of dangerous career beyond their family duties. Yes, one's in the army, but there's no war going on, and no signs of one starting up soon, yet I still get bombarded with questions about what I would do if I was in charge." There was badly concealed bitterness in her voice.

"Well, you are still a member of the family of Remnant's largest weapons producers," Rosa pointed out.

"And a very influential family at that," Mizu continued for her. "So influential in fact that there's a large plaza in Atlas named after us. Only the Schnees have more influence than us anymore. However, unlike them, while our names are known outside of Atlas, our faces, and our family crest," she indicated the emblem on her vest, "are not. I thought this would be a chance to get away from all the attention."

Rosa looked at her partner for a few moments. "I can't blame you," she spoke slowly, lying down. She then muttered just loud enough for Mizu to hear, "The attention I get may be different, but sometimes I wish I could just get away from my ears from time to time."

Mizu sighed. "Somehow I feel like you probably had the worse end of the stick," she said, looking at her partner, who bit her lower lip but didn't say anything else. Mizu smiled sadly, lying down as well. "You know, I always preferred how the moon looks when it's like this." Rosa looked at Mizu confused by the sudden change in topic. "The broken chunks all showing themselves for what they really are instead of hiding behind the main body."

**A/N2: So, pink and blue are easily my two favorite fictional hair colors. Really, there's nothing beyond that as to why I chose them for Rosa and Mizu's designs. Green is my third favorite, but that's not the reason I'm making use of Oobleck for this. No, I chose to make use of him because I felt I could do more with having a team that's not entirely OC in the flashback to make it more easily connect to the present day, and I've always like Oobleck, but especially so after the last few parts of Volume 2, him just having green hair was a nice bonus.**

**A/N3: For people who are fine with OCs, but don't want them to be a huge spotlight stealer… I've got good and bad news. Bad news is the OCs will play a very important role in my story, although that should be a given at this point. Good news is, the main focus of present day chapters will be on canon characters, and flashback chapters will not be every other chapter. I have rules for when flashbacks will occur, and they're detailed in the notes for Chapter 10, and there're only 2 flashbacks, counting this one, by the time you get to that… although the next chapter immediately afterwards is a flashback as well, so there's that.**

**A/N4-P: So, Mizu's a waterbender. No ifs and or buts about it, that's what I based her Semblance on. Even her family crest is based on the symbol of the Water Tribes, albeit with the water and moon transposed.**


	3. Out of the Mine

"It's-it's a dead end, there's nothing here."

Yang's words hung in the air for several seconds as Ruby and Blake processed the news. Weiss, however, had a different approach. "What do you mean there's nothing there!?"

"Exactly what I said," Yang stepped out of the small alcove, and motioned for the others to look for themselves. They moved slowly through the room, making sure not to disturb the bodies. Sure enough, looking into the alcove on the other end of the room revealed a short tunnel that curved out of sight from within the room, but nevertheless reached an end within only a few feet.

"But how did? I mean, there's no way we imagined that, right?" Ruby asked, placing her gloved hand on the back wall of the small tunnel.

"No we didn't," Blake answered as she walked over to and knelt down over the closest corpse.

"Isn't that the body that woman was next to?" Yang asked. A few moments passed, and she didn't get a response. "Blake?" There still wasn't a response, prompting Yang put her hand on the other woman's shoulder, "Blake?"

Blake's head jerked upwards. "S-sorry…"

"What's wrong?" Yang asked, light concern only adding to the stress of the situation.

Blake shook her head and moved out of the way, giving Yang a clear view of the body. It was a man with black hair and a pair of ears atop his head. While they were more angled and thinner than Blake's, they were still clearly feline. The man's eyes were closed, and he wasn't lying around haphazardly like the others. Instead, his body had been set with his arms at his sides, and his legs together.

"What is going on here!?" Weiss demanded. "I've heard about Grimm attacks in the mines before, but nothing I've heard has ever even remotely resembled this."

"I wish I knew," Ruby said as Blake forced herself to avert her eyes from the body, and instead focusing on the others littering the room. "But I do know that we've found all the workers..."

"Yeah, plus one," Yang said, pulling out her scroll. "According to the map of the mines, we've cleared this entire shaft. Let's head back up and report this," she shook her head, sounding bitter. "Hopefully nothing will get back into these rooms before we can get all of these people back to their families." The others nodded, and moved out of the room, Weiss sealing it with several pillars of ice like the previous one, and from there they quickly moved to exit the mines.

"Well, is it safe?" the human man who had escorted them earlier asked as the four of them exited the entrance shaft. The sun had moved far across the sky. It had still been early morning when they'd entered, now it was a little past noon at the very earliest.

"Well, it's clear," Ruby said dully, returning Crescent Rose to its holster. The others nodded, storing their weapons as well.

"And what of the workers?" Despite the questions, the man didn't seem to be worried. "Surely they can't all-"

"They are," Weiss said coldly. "All of them. Across two rooms."

"What do you mean by rooms?" the man asked confused, worry still not seeming to affect him.

"I don't know how else to describe them," Weiss pulled out her scroll as she walked over to the man. "There are two large round chambers here," she pointed at their locations, "and here. Each one is sealed behind ice. You'll find around half your workers in each one."

"And the Grimm?"

"Assuming the only problems with the map are the lack of the chambers, we cleared the entire thing," Ruby said, walking up to the man as well.

"I'm still not sure what you mean by these chambers," the man said, confusion more than evident in his voice. The various mutterings Blake heard from the group of workers around them suggested they didn't know either.

"You'll find out," Ruby said, still sounding glum, as Blake and Yang moved to talk with the group of workers themselves as Ruby and Weiss continued discussing things with the man.

"So they're really all gone?" a woman asked.

"Unfortunately," Blake said, sounding distracted. "So do any of you know about the two round rooms?" All of them shook their head.

"What about a masked woman," Yang asked. This question was met with a number of stares from the group, with a number of them looking between each other. "I'm going to take that as a yes." Yang felt surprised. "What do you know about her?"

"Nothing," a man answered. "Only a handful of us ever even saw her."

"Yeah, we just thought the people who saw here were seeing a Grimm getting a little too close to the mines," another man added.

"Has anyone here now seen her?" Blake asked, looking around.

"I have," a man who looked to be around Blake and Yang's age answered. "A few years back. It was right at the end of my shift. Everyone else said it was a Grimm, but I knew it wasn't. Grimm markings are red, this woman's weren't they were-"

"Blue," Yang said at the same time as the man.

The man nodded, "Yes, it almost looked black in the lighting. So, you've seen her too?"

Yang nodded, "In the second of the rooms. She's certainly very real, and the flash of her Aura definitely says she's not a Grimm. How long have these sightings been occurring?"

"I'm not sure," an older man replied. "I've never seen her myself, but I think I started hearing the stories about twenty years ago now."

"Twenty?" Blake asked, making sure she'd heard correctly. Unsurprisingly, she was met with several nods. "Has anyone ever reported this?"

"Well, no," one woman shrugged. "Like we said, most of us thought it was just some Grimm getting too close. They never attack on their own, it's always a large group like that got into the mines today, so seeing a lone one isn't much cause for alarm. They pass by like that all the time, unless they're young, in which case the above ground workers know enough to deal with one or two."

Both Blake and Yang nodded, and walked back over to where Ruby and Weiss, mostly Weiss, were finishing up discussions with the man, "So, unless you want to work in the mines yourself," her voice was cold enough to freeze water instantly, "you will make sure all of those workers are returned to their families, and buried properly with respect."

"Y-yes Miss Schnee," the man said, taking a step back.

"Well?"

The man swallowed and motioned towards the nearest group of workers. "Come on, begin fetching the others." Turning back to Ruby and Weiss he said, "I suppose I should escort you back to the airship now."

"No, I think we can manage on our own," Ruby said in her own cold tone. The man nodded, then walked over to the group he'd called on and began leading them into the mine, discomfort evident in his every step.

"Ready to go?" Yang asked, trying not to laugh, the scene she'd just witnessed making her feel slightly better. Ruby nodded, and they set off for the airship.

"So what did they say?" Ruby asked as they took their seats in the vehicle, to which Yang gave a summary of what their discussion with the workers.

"And you just accepted that they were fine with a single Grimm appearing on the edge of the site?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"That's actually not all that rare," Ruby said. "That's how the Grimm act on Patch. There's not enough on the island to pose a threat to the town. They only attack people who wander out on their own or in small groups. They're more than aware that attacking a large group of people is suicide."

"She's right," Yang said, looking over at Blake, who was lost in her own thoughts.

* * *

"Something this big shouldn't be able to exist," Jaune said staring up at the immense Grimm corpse that Qrow had reported on to Ozpin.

"You're right, it shouldn't," a man's voice said behind him. "But at the end of the day, it does, and we need to try and find out how it died before it completely dissolves. Because if two Grimm got into a dispute, the remaining one might prove to be an even bigger problem down the road."

"I suppose stumbling upon two bodies would be too much to ask for," Jaune said, still trying to wrap his mind around how large it must have been when it was alive.

"Now Tai," came Qrow's voice as he and Pyrrha joined the two of them, "y'know full well that no matter how injured a Grimm of anywhere close to that size is, it's still a threat until we can take it out."

Taiyang turned and bowed his head, "Very true, but the more injured it is when we find it, the less we'll have to lose finishing it off."

"So did the two of you find anything?" Jaune asked, looking between Qrow and Pyrrha, the latter of whom shook her head.

"A large amount of ice around what seems to have been its head," Qrow said. "So many questions, and no answers in the slightest. But for now it's just time for cleanup duty."

"Clean up duty?" surprisingly it was Pyrrha who asked.

"Its a nickname we use for cutting up the corpse of a very large Grimm so that it dissolves faster," Taiyang said.

"Is that common?" Jaune asked. "I've never heard any mention of doing that at all during our time at Beacon."

"It's not all that common," Qrow answered, stumbling slighting towards the huge corpse. "It's only done when a Grimm of very large size is killed. Their corpses have a tendency to draw even more of the beasts to the area. A Grimm even a fraction of this size is normally cut up when it's killed, or in this case found, within around fifty miles of the city's walls."

Jaune nodded, "That makes sense, don't want a large group of Grimm gathering close to the city."

"Ozpin probably figured it was a nice and simple mission before the two of you left at the end of the month," Taiyang said.

"Shipping out? That's news to me," Qrow said, grabbing his sword. "Where're you two being shipped to?"

"Mistral," Pyrrha answered as she readied Milo in its spear form. "Our old teammates are staying in Vale though."

"That happens," Taiyang said as he prepared a large pair of gauntlets on his arms not unlike his older daughter's. "Teams that have someone from another Kingdom on them are the most likely to be split up due to the person being assigned to their home Kingdom."

"I can't say I'm surprised, a number of teams from our year were dissolved completely," Pyrrha said. "Overall I'd say we were lucky to remain together at all."

"Yeah, and then there's Ruby's team," Jaune said.

"The team staying together was probably the only thing that could convince them to go to Atlas at all," Qrow joked.

"Did the two of you go on a mission with them like you are with us?" Pyrrha asked, fully aware of the two Huntsmen's relation to Ruby and Yang.

"No, unfortunately," Taiyang said. "All things considered though, had the Atlesian government not demanded they be sent up as soon as possible we'd have probably done on this mission with them instead of the two of you."

"You mean had Eis not demanded," Qrow said, causing Taiyang to bow his head a second time.

"Eis?" Jaune asked, looking at the grey haired man in curiosity. The general mention of it made him think it was name that he should be more familiar with.

"Eis Schnee, the head of the Schnee Dust Company, and Weiss' father," Pyrrha said, confirming Jaune's suspicions.

"Now let's get started," Qrow said, extending his sword's blade. The others nodded, and they set to carving up the Grimm's limbs, exposing muscles that immediately began dissolving into nothing as soon as they were exposed to the air.

"It's kind of annoying when you think about it," Jaune said somewhat randomly as he and Pyrrha neared another limb.

"What is?" Pyrrha asked, looking over at him.

"Well, we don't know all that much about Grimm anatomy because most of them dissolve too quickly to be studied, then you get the ones that can actually last long enough after death to potentially get some study done, but they're just too huge to do so." He set about cutting down what was either an arm or a front leg. Pyrrha smiled, knowing it was true and continued about her own work. Nearly an hour later, and their work was nearing completion. As she finished cutting up a foot, Pyrrha heard something. Walking towards the sound, she quickly realized it was Jaune. "-ou doing here?"

She sped up, "Jaune?"

"Who are you-" his question was interrupted by a loud screech of pain.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha sped up to a run and burst out past the end of the Grimm's limb, and saw Jaune lying on the ground. Running over to him, he didn't appear to be hurt, but she could hear both of their scrolls warning of a low level aura, and he was close to passing out "What happened?"

"M-mask…" he got out before passing out.

Taiyang arrived second and immediately began checking his vitals. After a few minutes, during which time Qrow had arrived, he leaned backwards looking calm. "He'll make it. He's just passed out from rapid Aura drain."

* * *

"Ah, home sweet home," Yang said as she plopped onto the couch. "Well, in time anyway," she looked at the generic decorative designs around her. She then stretched out her arms above her head. "I just want to move on from today."

"Yeah, well, you're not the only one," Ruby said, taking a seat next to her sister, a pile of papers in her hand.

Yang grimaced, "That didn't look all that thick when Ironwood gave them to you earlier."

"It's mostly just multiple copies," Ruby said, looking down at the mass of paper, "but yeah, its quite a bit."

"Four years you've been our leader," Weiss said, walking over to the door leading to the dining room and kitchen. "Someone else and I'd have expected them to be used to all the paperwork by now."

"Being used to it and enjoying it are two very different things," Ruby called out to Weiss before looking through the forms. "I know every job has its less glamorous parts, but if you told me five years ago I'd be spending as much time working on this as I do in combat and I wouldn't have believed you."

"Yeah, well that's what you get when your mission employer is a big business or the government," Yang said, looking over at Blake, who wasn't paying attention. "Blake?" she said softly, but didn't get a response. "Blake," she repeated a little louder, causing the other woman to jerk her head up, having clearly been far away in her thoughts. "What's wrong?" Blake merely shook her head.

Ruby wasn't paying attention and continued looking through the forms, "Well, at least it's fairly simple, most of it's just for giving an account of what happened. Seems we only need one since we spent the entire thing in one group." Looking through the rest of the forms she let out an annoyed sigh, "Really? Since we didn't split up, the only thing you need to do is leave your signatures while I have to be the one to fill everything out. Wonderful."

"You can't be surprised by that," Weiss said, returning with a glass of water.

"I'm not surprised, just annoyed," Ruby said, leaning back. "At least at Beacon we all had to at least fill something out. Even if I had more, at least it wasn't just me."

"Ruby Rose," Weiss said, feigning insult, "am I hearing things, or are you wishing your punishment on other people.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh before turning to look at her sister. "Hey w- is everything alright?"

Yang turned away from Blake and smiled, "Y-yeah, its just today's been eventful."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, hey if you want, you can head out for the rest of the day. I can handle this on my own, it's not hard, just long."

"Are you sure?" Yang asked.

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, just remember we have to be up early."

Yang quickly stood. "Thank you," she called out, as she grabbed Blake's arm, "come on, you too."

"Uh, Yang," Blake tried protesting, but found herself dragged out of the room before she could say anything else.

Ruby turned back to face Weiss, "You're not going?"

"What? And make the paperwork take twice as long?" Weiss said taking Yang's now vacant seat. When Ruby went to speak, Weiss put her hand up to shush her, "Before you say anything else, did you or did you not do that to get Yang to drag Blake off so she'd be more likely to talk." Ruby smiled mischievously, but didn't say anything as she handed Weiss some of the papers.

* * *

"So, are you ready to talk yet?" Yang asked as she and Blake stepped out onto the street.

Blake shifted around before sighing, "It's not even been three hours, and you've already pieced together something's wrong."

A warm smile appeared on Yang's face, "Are you actually surprised? We were partners for four years. You get to know someone during that time. As well as see how they've changed. When we first met, you being quiet and staying out of conversations, okay I wouldn't have said anything to that. Maybe if we were in a larger group full of people we didn't know, I still wouldn't find anything wrong. But not when it's just the four of us. It has been a looong time since you've stayed out of a conversation when it's just been the team."

Blake grimaced, "Yang I-"

"I know, there are still things you're not comfortable sharing with Ruby or Weiss," her eyes glanced up at Blake's ears for a moment as she spoke. "Or even me. But regardless, you've been acting weird since you saw the body that that woman had been knelt over."

Blake nodded slowly before speaking, "How much have I ever told you about my parents?"

"Only a few stories from when you were younger. The last story you mentioned about them, at least that I can think of off the top of my head, was from when you were… eleven...I think," Yang shrugged a bit, looking Blake in the eye.

Blake nodded again, "Do you know why I never mentioned them from later in my life?"

"Well, I thought," Yang paused for a moment, not wanting to touch the subject again today. "Well, honestly I figured they died."

Blake took a deep breath, "They did… My mother when I was eleven, my father a year later, about a month before the White Fang turned violent."

Yang nodded, she'd had more than enough death to last her a lifetime from that day alone, but she knew Blake had to get it all out. "And the man from earlier?"

"Seeing him lying there made me flash back to his funeral," Blake said quietly. Yang put her arm around Blake. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. "Thank you," Blake said after a while. "It's something where every time I think I've come to terms with it, I'm proven wrong."

"I know what you mean," Yang said as she let go of Blake. "More than a decade of searching and I still find myself wondering where my mother went."

"I know, I've helped you search," Blake said, her tone lightening up. "Raven, wasn't it?"

"Raven Branwen," Yang said as something dawned on her, "Wait, did I ever tell you about the dreams?"

"No," Blake said, surprised by the question. She'd learned a long time ago that Yang's dreams were often a strange place.

"It involves the masked woman who helped us interfere with the White Fang so many times back in Vale," Yang said. "Every time we ran into her, I'd have this recurring dream for the next week where it would turn out she was actually my mother."

"What?" Blake asked, not sure of what to say.

Yang nodded, "Yeah, it's so stupid, but it would happen every time. Something about her just reminded me of my mother, but I mean what's the chance it was actually her?"

Blake shrugged, "I've heard stranger tales."

"Yeah, like our mystery Grimm woman," Yang said before letting out a short laugh. "Her mask is nearly identical to the other woman's now that I think about it. Let's hope I don't wind up dreaming about her winding being my mother too."

Blake couldn't help but laugh, "I can see it now, she takes off the blue mask to reveal the red one underneath."

"Yeah, that would be a real red herring," Yang said, a big grin on her face.

"And there goes the good feeling I had," Blake said, deadpan.

Yang shrugged, "I had to."

Blake shook her head as they began walking down the street, "Maybe, but you usually put a little more effort behind them."

"Yeah, well I've had a busy day," Yang said, her normal smile returning to her face.

Blake nodded as they continued down the road until it came to an end at another road running perpendicular to it. Across from it was a wide walkway that ran between the two buildings. "This is interesting."

Yang's face lit up seeing it, "Then I did remember correctly."

"Remember what?" Blake looked at Yang quizzically.

"I was doing a little research on the city last night, and I read that the city's three largest plazas are all designed differently, and all have different nicknames," Yang admitted. "The Schnee Plaza in the northern part of town is home to all of the city's large business headquarters and is built with very large roads around it to handle a lot of traffic in a short amount of time," she shrugged. "A lot of people supposedly call it the heart of the city since it and the surrounding area are the locations of a majority of the city's workforce. The second plaza is the Vetro Plaza over to the west, home to all of the government buildings, and I know at least Weiss refers to it as the plaza of hot air."

Blake laughed, "And the third plaza?"

"The Ao Plaza, called the entertainment capital of the city. It's the largest of them all and it's supposed to be filled with things like theaters, restaurants, stores, games. Also, it's the only plaza that doesn't allow any kind of vehicles outside of emergency situations. The others will at least allow some for special occasions. I was a little worried that I'd confused the locations of the last two plazas." Yang shrugged, "It was something I was planning on bringing everyone along to check out, but circumstances change."

"Yang, you know-" Blake started to argue.

"I know, I know," Yang interrupted, "you're not normally one for the big crowds, but I figured after earlier, the big lively crowd would be a very welcome sight." She started preparing to drag Blake with her, but it wasn't needed as Blake nodded and motioned for Yang to lead the way. Stepping out into the plaza, she was glad she'd agreed. The plaza was filled with people, but its immense size and open design prevented it from feeling truly crowded. Yang looked over at Blake to see her smiling, and the two of them moved from the entrance they'd used to enter the plaza along the southeast side and moved farther south. "Movie theater, restaurant, traditional theater, weapon museum, toy store," Yang stopped and backtracked one. "What?"

"The Ao Weapon Museum," Blake said, reading the sign. "I think we found a place to take Ruby." Yang let out a short laugh as Blake grabbed a brochure from the front of the building. "Eighty years of weapons production remembered in the museum," she read as she flipped through it. "Apparently the Ao family ran the largest weapons production company in all of Remnant until twenty years ago. They've actually got a special for any Huntsmen and Huntresses that want to visit it for the upcoming anniversary."

"I've never heard of them," Yang said, raising an eyebrow. "What happened twenty years ago?"

"It doesn't give any details, just that the family sold the company," Blake shrugged putting the brochure into a pocket in her jacket.

"Knowing Ruby, she'll probably be able to tell us," Yang shrugged. Blake nodded, as they continued walking down the road.

"How about we get something to eat before we do anything else?" Blake suggested.

"Sounds good," Yang said, realizing how long it had been since they'd eaten. "Although, if you order fish again, I'm picking something different for you."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to pick any of the fish options," Blake said as they walked into a nearby restaurant, an advertisement for a special on quail displayed next to the door.

* * *

"Uh," Ruby grunted in annoyance, "I hate legal jargon."

"I'm pretty sure everyone does. And I thought you said this was easy," Weiss pointed out as she reentered the room.

Ruby leaned back and rubbed her eyes, "Overall, it is. It's just unnecessarily annoying."

Weiss nodded as she walked back towards the couch, "I can't argue with that, I had to deal with it a lot growing up."

"I'm sorry about that," Ruby said, leaning back over the paperwork.

"No you're not," Weiss said, setting down a bowl of strawberries.

"Eh, I am a little," Ruby quickly reaching out towards the bowl as the doorbell rang, causing Ruby to immediately begin to stand.

"No," Weiss said simply. "You keep working, I'll deal with the door." She walked over to the monitor next to their door as Ruby sat back down and exaggerated a pout. Turning on the monitor, Weiss only needed a glance at the image from the call center in the lobby. "Scarlett!?" Weiss called in surprise.

"Scarlet?" Ruby said, looking back up.

"Not him," Weiss said, a genuine smile appearing on her face, before she turned back to the monitor to speak into the receiver. "You can come up now, I'll authorize the elevator," Ruby couldn't hear a response. "Yes, I'll let you in. Yes," she hung up and walked over to the door.

"So, what was that about?" Ruby asked, curiosity coming over her.

"Just wait," Weiss answered as she opened the door. A minute later, Ruby heard the sounds of one of the elevator doors opening, and a woman walked in wearing the uniform of the Schnee Dust Company, which consisted of a light blue and white shirt and pants, the Schnee Family crest on the back of the shirt. Her hair was shoulder length and as befitting her name, was a deep red, albeit closer to a crimson than a scarlet. Her eyes were a light blue color and were slightly larger than average. Her skin was a pale white from lack of direct sun, something that was hardly surprising given Atlas' average temperature, and her face showed early signs of aging, albeit covered in faint amounts of makeup. All in all, to Ruby, her appearance suggested a woman in her late thirties.

"You must be Ruby," she walked over to the young leader.

"I am," Ruby said, extending her hand. "You must be, uh, Scarlett."

"Correct," Scarlett, shaking her hand. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

"I've heard… nothing about you," Ruby said awkwardly.

"Well, let's fix that," Weiss said, closing the door and walking over to join the other two women. "Scarlett here is my father's personal secretary, has been for ten years now." She hesitated for a moment before adding, "She also taught me how to wield a rapier."

"I think that may be a little more than I did," Scarlett said modestly. "I just showed you some of the basics."

"This certainly explains a lot," Ruby said thinking back.

"What do you mean?" Scarlett said looking between Ruby and Weiss.

Before Weiss could answer, Ruby did, "Our first year at Beacon our team became friends with another team visiting from Mistral. One of the boys on that team was named Scarlet," Ruby started grinning as she looked at her old partner. "Weiss was constantly messing up when it came to talking about him."

"I see," the older woman said, clearly trying to avoid laughing.

"Anyway," Weiss said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible, "Scarlett, what brings you here?"

Scarlett nodded, acknowledging Weiss' embarrassment as she turned to face the heiress, "Two reasons, the first would be your father."

Weiss grunted, "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. What does he want?"

"Right now, more than likely it would be the General's head," Scarlett said, grabbing one of the strawberries for herself. "He's furious that you were sent to the mines."

Weiss's smile faltered for a second, "Again, that doesn't surprise me. He hasn't been happy with most of my actions over the last few years."

"Then why would he let you do them?" Ruby asked.

"Because he hasn't been able to stop me since I got admitted to Beacon. "Weiss shrugged. "After all, if he didn't provide transportation for me, Beacon would have." Weiss's eyes drifted over to Myrtenaster, resting near the entrance. "And on the surface, it looks very good for the company."

"How does you attending Beacon look good for the company?"

"Because of what happened with the Ao family," Scarlett interjected.

"Wait, the old weapon producers?" Ruby asked in surprise.

Scarlett nodded, "Yes, at the height of their career it came out that the youngest of their company's potential heirs, and their only daughter, had been attending Beacon for nearly a year at that point. Interest in their weapons, which was already high, absolutely skyrocketed in all four Kingdoms until…" she trailed off.

"Until what?" Ruby asked. " I know they closed their doors around twenty years ago, but I never heard why."

"Well, closing their doors wouldn't be it exactly," Scarlett said, thinking back, "They sold the various parts of their company to a number of different benefactors all over Remnant, and donated the money to anyone willing to renovate the buildings in the Ao Plaza just down the street from here, with some exception. Their sudden withdrawal left a huge political vacuum that still hasn't been completely filled in even now."

Ruby nodded, she'd already known about how the family had lost influence, what she'd been asking was why. Before she could point this out, Weiss spoke up, "You mentioned that there were two things you wanted to talk about."

"I did," Scarlett said checking the time. "And the second thing should actually be starting soon."

"What do you mean? What's starting?" Weiss asked. In response Scarlett turned on the television in the room and changed the channel over to a press conference.

"Is my father going to chew out Ironwood in public?" Weiss asked.

Scarlett smiled but shook her head. "It's not your father, although it's not completely unrelated either."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Its Beige," she answered simply.

"Beige, okay that's a name you've mentioned around me," Ruby said. "Isn't he that guy who started out as a small time clerk who managed to smooth over the SDC's expansion into Mistral around, uh, ten years ago?"

"That's him," Weiss said. "But he always worked behind the scenes, what's he doing holding a press conference? Almost no one even knew he exists, and those who do, well they heard about him from my family."

"Technically, you didn't hear this from me," Scarlett said, her tone quickly turning serious, "but he's been expanding his influence behind the backs of the higher ups at the company over the last year. Helping out other companies throughout the city. When Eis found out, he was furious, even more so than he is with Ironwood now. The last few weeks there's been a rumor running around that he's been planning on running for the Atlas Council."

"You… you can't be serious," Weiss said bewildered. "It was practically his catchphrase that he hated politicians whenever he was around when I was younger. The idea of him running for any position, but especially the council, is absurd."

"Well, a few years ago I would have agreed with you, but..."

"But what?" Weiss demanded.

"Well, he's been… different the past couple of months," Scarlett said.

"Different ho-" Weiss was interrupted by the sounds of the conference beginning. Sure enough, the man who took to the podium to speak was Beige. There was no mistaking the distinctive burn scar running across the right side of his jaw. Nor the appearance of his short blond hair, cut similarly to, but not quite as a buzz cut, and his brown eyes emphasized his normally stern expression as he prepared to talk.

"He looks familiar," Ruby said, surprising the other two. "I can't place it though, but I just can't help but feel like I've seen him before."

"Maybe I showed you a picture of him?" Weiss said, unsure. She didn't remember doing so, but then again, it could have been in passing anytime over the last four years.

"Maybe," Ruby said, unsure. "How long's he had that burn? Because that's what's throwing me off."

"He's had it for a long time," Scarlett answered, "You either saw an old picture of him, or you just saw someone who looked like him."

"Must be the latter," Weiss said, "I don't think I even have any pictures of him without it… no I know I don't because he already had it when I met him."

"I'm sure many people here have no idea who I am," Beige began speaking, his voice was as stern as his expression, but there was a natural warmth behind it.

"Now I'm sure it was him, I recognize his voice," Ruby said, feeling even more confused than ever.

"That's… odd," Weiss said, feeling as confused as Ruby. As far as she was aware, Beige had never been to Vale.

"However, some of my endeavors I'm sure you will all recognize," Beige continued speaking. "Mainly, the entrance of the Schnee Dust Company into the Mistralton market," behind him was a large screen that revealed a large number of documents blown up to large size to make it easy to read for everyone gathered in the plaza around him, and watching on television. "These documents are all within the public domain. They are not secret, they are not classified, and anyone can find them if they know what to look for. They detail my own personal influence in smoothing over relations between the SDC and the Mistral Council and the decrease in restrictions regarding the sale of Schnee products in said market as a direct result of my actions.

"Next," the screen changed to detail a series of different documents, "over the last year I've helped out in a number of companies throughout this Kingdom. All of these cases, and my main goal while working with the Schnee Dust Company ever since its entrance into Mistral, have been related to one single topic," one single image blew up on the screen, a news article detailing improvements in conditions in the Schnee mines over the last ten years, "faunus rights. Unfortunately, my efforts have reached a dead end within the Schnee Dust Company." He paused and looked across the gathered crowd. "And there is only so much that can be done within smaller companies and corporations. It was for this reason that I've severed most of my connection with the Schnee Dust Company, and why I am here today. Today I am announcing my intent to run for a position on the Kingdom Council." A round of applause rang through the gathered crowd.

"No wonder my father wasn't pleased with him," Weiss said while Ruby was still trying to place why she found him to be familiar.

Beige paused as the applause died down. "Now, faunus rights is a subject on many people's minds in this day and age," as he continued speaking a woman stepped forward onto the stage with him. Her hair was silver in color, but didn't seem to be a result of age. "And it's something I, and my wife," he indicated the woman, while Weiss let out a short sound of surprise "feel especially strong for, and have worked towards for years. Myself behind the scenes, her at the forefront of peaceful gatherings. However, there is only so much you can do within the law as it stands currently.

"Which is why we feel the time has come to change the laws themselves, because the ones in charge are not doing it for us. I will repeat this: they are not doing their jobs. Now, I could continue on for hours on this subject, among others, but my time today is limited. If there are any among you with questions, and I'm sure there are many, they will not be answered today," a wave of disgruntled comments rippled through the crowd. "Do not misunderstand me, they will need to be answered, but not today. Specifically, one week from tomorrow, I will be accepting public questions. I only hope you take this time to think them through." With that, he began to step off the stage to another round of applause, with his wife turning to follow him as the feed cut out to instead focus on a reporter.

"That certainly didn't go the way I was expecting," Weiss said, sounding incredibly dumbfounded. "I wasn't even aware he was married."

"He was always one to play most of his feelings close to his vest. He's probably been planning this for a long time coming," Scarlett said, standing. "But, I have a feeling I'm going to be needed back at the office right away given what's just happened."

Weiss nodded, "You're probably right. My father is probably frothing with rage right about now."

Scarlett turned to face Ruby, "It was nice to meet you, Ruby, maybe next time I'll meet Blake and Yang." Ruby nodded as Scarlett turned around and exited the room.

"What is it?" Weiss asked, looking at Ruby, whose face was still contorted in confusion.

"It's just, the more he spoke, the more and more I got the feeling that I'd seen him before, and I'm just not sure why."

* * *

"Well then, that was interesting," Yang said, turning to face Blake, who had a broad smile on her face. "You seem happy. You're not normally one to take a claim to working for faunus rights at face value."

"You're right I'm not," Blake said, turning away from the large screen in the plaza and towards Yang. "You didn't notice, did you?"

"Notice what?" Yang asked.

"His wife," Blake said, her smile broadening. "She had a tail."

"What?" Yang laughed, "You're right, I didn't notice. No wonder you're happy. I guess if there's anyone who's willing to put a full effort towards faunus rights, someone married to one would be. Now, come on, we've got time to burn, let's get moving on to our next activity."

Blake nodded, "I saw something earlier that looked interesting."

Yang shook her head, "Nope, it's still my turn to pick."

"No, I picked the restaurant, you chose the movie-"

"No I didn't. I wanted to see an action flick, but you were against it and wanted a drama. We compromised on a comedy that ended up being all of the above," Yang pointed out. "Who knew a group of incompetent soldiers could make you cry?" Blake sighed, but bowed her head in defeat and followed as Yang lead them across the plaza.

"Something else in your research?" Blake asked as they approached a large fountain.

"Yep," Yang said. "This fountain, it's called the Mizu Fountain, but I think I read that it had several names over time. Although, regardless of the name, it's a long standing tradition that if you take a Lien," she pulled out a coin, "and toss it in, you'll have good luck for the next year."

Blake shook her head, "Really?"

"I know, it's dumb, but everything thrown in is donated to charity," she pointed over at a large sign about suicide prevention, "and after everything else today, I think trying for a little luck couldn't hurt anything."

Blake nodded and smiled, "Yeah. Some luck would certainly help for the future." She walked up to the fountain and pulled out a coin as well.

"Here's to showing up in time the next time we're sent outside to the walls," Yang said under her breath, only Blake hearing. After she finished speaking, she flipped the coin into the air and into the water.

"And to a further improvement in conditions," Blake muttered as well, no one else hearing it, just tossing her own coin in as she spoke.

The two stood there for nearly a minute before Yang turned to Blake, "So, what did you have in mind?"

"It's going to be another short stop," Blake said, beginning to lead the way.

"And are you going to give me a hint as to what it is?" Yang asked, following behind.

"I'm going to a store to see if I can get a better coat," Blake answered.

"Really?" Yang shook her head. "That's it?"

"Yes," Blake said, glancing back. "Unlike you, I actually have to worry about the cold. And I need something that can keep me warm," she pointed at her ears, "that doesn't muffle everything I hear."

"Yeah, well, unless you're willing to put up with a hood, I don't think you're going to get many options."

"If I need to get a custom fit hood, I will," Blake said, stopping outside the store she'd spotted earlier.

Yang laughed as the mental image of Blake wearing a hood form fitted to have slots for her ears came to her. Calming down, she walked inside. "Hello," greeted the woman working inside. "I take it you need a better coat," she said looking Yang's outfit up and down.

Yang shook her head, "No, not me. But my friend does." She moved out of the way as Blake stepped inside.

The woman gave Yang another look, "And you're sure you're fine miss?" Yang nodded. "Al-alright," the woman turned to Blake, still unsure, "is there anything I can help you with miss?"

"Hold on." Blake looked through a few of the displays before asking, "Do you accept custom jobs?" The woman nodded, prompting Blake to walk up to her and started undoing straps on the ends of her coat's sleeves that weren't immediately obvious at a glance, loosening them so that when she took the coat off, it didn't interfere with her gloves nor the ribbons on them. Underneath she was wearing a sleeveless white shirt, the metal plate that holds Gambol Shroud to her back strapped over it. "Could you make a coat like this, but with a hood that's slightly larger than normal?"

The woman examined the coat for a few moments, "It would be my pleasure. Although, it might need to take some extra time, I've never dealt with some of these design choices." She looked up at Blake, "Do you mind if I take a few measurements to make sure the hood is fine?" Blake nodded and the two of them walked to the back of the store as Yang walked over to one of the racks, something having caught her eye.

* * *

"James," Ozpin said, his picture staring at Ironwood from his monitor.

"I know, Oz, trust me I do," Ironwood said, already knowing where the conversation was going. "How is the man that was attacked?"

"Mister Arc regained consciousness around an hour ago," Ozpin replied. "He's still suffering a few issues from rapid Aura loss, and can't completely think straight."

"How rapidly does someone have to lose Aura to be left dazed hours later? The worst I've ever encountered only lasted half an hour at longest," Ironwood said, remembering Jaune from his time in Vale.

"It would seem all at once," Ozpin said, pulling up an Aura display, a recording of the incident. Jaune's gauge was shown at full, and immediately cut down to nearly empty. "For someone's Aura to drain that much, especially for someone with as much Aura as Mister Arc, is unheard of coming from all but the most powerful of Grimm, especially in what seems to be a single strike." Ironwood shook his head, he was at a loss for possible causes. "Back to the topic at hand," Ozpin continued on, "all he's said thus far is that there was a shadowy figure that he thought was a Grimm at first but turned out to be a person dressed all in black. Upon trying to get the person's attention, the person turned to him and all he remembers seeing is a mask. The next thing he knows he was waking up back here."

Ironwood nodded, "This can't be a coincidence that two groups of Huntsmen encounter a figure with nearly the exact same description on the exact same day just a few hours apart."

"You're right, it can't be, but the problem stands that we don't know exactly what, or who these people are. Team RWBY identified the figure that stood before them as a woman, yet on this end, we don't even know that much." Ozpin looked as if he was about to say something else but paused, and looked away for a few moments before returning his gaze to Ironwood. "It seems Mister Arc has recovered a little more. Apparently this figure created a blade from a glowing glove they were wearing on their right hand."

"A Dust made blade then," Ironwood let out a small empty laugh and shook his head in annoyance. "Now, if only that was a technique that was rare, we might actually be able to narrow things down."

Ozpin nodded, "For now, all we can do is be alert. I trust that's a lesson you've not forgotten already."

**A/N1: So, with the series' color naming theme, it can take a while to adjust to some of them that don't really feel like names, or do, but not in that context (such as associating Blake with a girl, although I do that by default now), but Beige is one I liked from the moment I thought of it.**

**A/N2: My response to the question of why I'd introduce a character named Scarlett when there's already a canon one named Scarlet (yes, spelling's important on distinguishing them) is because I say f the One Steve Limit trope. I know why it exists, and I'm not going to go overboard with people sharing names, but I had three friends in High School all named Willie, and I called them all Willie, so I'm very much so okay with putting up with 2 Scarlet(t)s who are referred to as Scarlet(t), and I'm not going to pull nicknames on this one, unlike RvB and it's abundance of Churches.**

**A/N3: So, I wrote this chapter prior to RvB's Season 13 premiere, and included the lines about the comedy/drama/action movie as a joke for how the series as a whole kinda is anymore, but the line about incompetent soldiers kind of summarizes S13 very well at this point.**


	4. Questions Without Answers

**A/N1: So, after three chapters of set up and character introductions, it's time to actually begin the plot this time around, and with it is a scene, this chapter's final scene actually, that has been running through my head since the idea for this fic first came to me, as in long before I started writing it. And now the time's come that it's finally out of my head, and I feel… honestly I feel happy how it turned out, which is something I rarely say because I'm ultra critical of my own writing. I only hope the other scenes in my head turn out that way as well. And now that plot is finally beginning, this chapter also marks the end of part 1 of this fic.**

**A/N2-P: So, as the description for this fic states, I edit in things and ideas from Volume 3 that I can. Normally these are things that don't require much work. However, if something really hits me, I'll even edit it in if it takes a lot of effort. Well, something happened that struck me to the point I'm doing massive edits. If anyone reads this at any time and hasn't yet seen Volume 3, watch it first.**

Blake's eyes shot open as her ears were assaulted by the obnoxious sounds of her alarm. Due to her mind still being in a small stupor from waking up, it took her a moment to remember why there wasn't a second bed above her own as she turned off the alarm and slowly sat up. Opting to wait on changing into heavier clothing, she exited her room still wearing her yukata. The sounds of the others talking reached her as soon as she opened the door, and upon reaching the base of the stairs, she heard Yang's voice clearly, "-don't know what you're talking about, Ruby. He didn't look familiar to me."

"I'm sure I've seen him before. No, I know I have, but I just can't place it," Ruby said, sounding unusually distressed as Blake entered the dining room. The two sisters were sitting next to each other, with Weiss sitting across from Ruby, empty bowls of cereal in front of them, with only Yang having changed out of her pajamas, even if she wasn't fully dressed.

"Hey, hey, hey, I believe you," Yang said, trying to calm down her sister down as she set her left hand on Ruby's shoulder. Her right hand, along with her right arm going up to and including her elbow, was fully robotic. Light grey metal and polymers formed the shell of the prosthetic that was roughly identical to the size and shape of her left arm. Just below her elbow was an indented ring of that gave view of a dark red Dust conduit that glowed faintly from the power running through it. A second small square indention was located just above her wrist on the arm's underside.

"What's going on?" Blake asked, walking through the open door into the kitchen.

"That politician we saw yesterday," Yang said, looking over at Weiss. "What was his name, Khaki?"

"Beige," Weiss replied simply.

"Beige," Yang repeated, continuing on, "Ruby thinks she's seen him before."

"I know I have," Ruby said before Yang could say anything else. "I just don't know where, or when, or how, but I know I have." As Blake reentered the room, Ruby continued on, "It's been driving me crazy since he gave that speech yesterday."

"Weiss, you said you actually know him, right?" Yang asked, turning to her.

Weiss sighed and leaned back in her chair, having tried to stay out of the conversation as much as she could, "I thought I did. He was around a number of times while I was growing up, but yesterday just shattered a lot of what I thought I knew about him."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, beginning to eat.

"I didn't know he was married for starters, and as Yang pointed out to me, his wife's a faunus," Weiss shook her head, trying to clear it. "The only things I know for a fact about him is that he served in the Atlesian Military for a few years and was stationed in Mistral, and only Mistral. He also got his burn from an accident while serving and moved on to political work not too long after receiving it."

"That burn's what's throwing me off," Ruby said. "He's apparently had it for nearly twenty-five years at this point, but I swear when I saw him, he didn't have it."

"You must have seen an old picture," Blake suggested.

"Recording," Ruby said. "An old recording of him. I know I more than likely didn't see him in person, but I've heard his voice before, I just can't place it."

"Regardless, we can revisit this later, we're going to have to get going pretty soon," Weiss said. "We're doing patrols today, do we have a specific area we should be in?"

"Yeah, two," Ruby said, partially glad to have something to distract her as she pulled out her scroll and set it on the table. "Two of us are supposed to be down by the docks, it doesn't specify which part of the docks, so I guess any area of them should be fine, another two have to be at… Vetro Plaza. Weiss and I can handle-"

"The Plaza," Yang interrupted, making Weiss and Ruby jump in surprise.

"Uh, why?" Ruby asked.

"No," Weiss shook her head. "No, no, no. I've had more than enough of that place to last me several lifetimes."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's the place where a lot of Government buildings are," Yang said, causing Ruby to stare in confusion as to how she knew that. "More than likely this man Beige will be around there." She looked over at Weiss, "I think both of you might like to talk to him." Weiss opened her mouth to argue, but quickly shut it, knowing it was true. "So, that would mean Blake and I can handle the docks, right?" Yang looked over at Blake, who nodded.

"Okay," Ruby said, relaxing.

"Don't get excited yet," Weiss cautioned. "The chances we'll run into him aren't exactly high."

"I know," Ruby said dismissively as she stood and took her bowl into the kitchen.

"So," Yang pulled out her scroll and opened up the map, "any recommended way of getting to the docks, Weiss? Last I checked you're the only one of us with a subway pass."

Weiss nodded, "Well until you've learned the city, I'd say stay away from the subway system. So, Crystal Boulevard," referring to the road their apartment was running along, "runs southwest off of Ao Plaza. It meets up with another major street…" Weiss paused trying to remember. "I don't remember its name, but it's part of the Central Ring, you'll see it on the map it's the largest road in the city. It surrounds the park and connects to many of the big roads coming off the three plazas, you can take it south and it'll take you near the docks. It's a decent walk, but it's easier than cutting through the side streets until you learn the area or cutting up through Ao Plaza to take the southern street off of it in general."

"Yeah, can we talk about how the streets off of that plaza make this part of the city look like a giant snowflake?"

"All three plazas do that," Weiss said. "It's part of the reason why there're the larger roads forming rings throughout the city to connect them in the first place. Overlaps between them just happened, and expansions a few decades back produced the current Central Ring."

"What about getting to the other plaza?" Ruby asked, returning to the room.

"Major streets connect all three large plazas like I said, fastest way is taking the Central Ring. Like I just said, we can just drive there in about the same amount of time it'll take Yang and Blake to get to the docks." Ruby nodded and left back into the living room.

"What, you can't just take us in the car too?" Yang asked, feigning insult.

"Not without taking longer ourselves. Unless you're willing to go on patrol without changing or bathing in most of our cases, we're going to need to take the shortest path if we want to make sure we get there when we're supposed to. And since traffic can't really be counted on to be empty..." Yang nodded, and picked up her bowl and took it into the kitchen. Weiss looked over at Blake, who shrugged and continued eating.

* * *

"Good morning, Mister Arc. How are you doing?" Ozpin asked, walking into Jaune's room in the Beacon infirmary.

"I'm fine, just a lightheaded feeling that won't leave," Jaune shook his head.

"Still?" Ozpin said, taking a sip from his coffee. Jaune nodded. "Is there anything else that you've remembered after sleeping?"

"Yes," Jaune nodded again. "There was a glow. I-I mean besides the one from the glove," Jaune preempted Ozpin's next question. "I'm not sure what was glowing, but it wasn't just the glove."

Ozpin nodded slowly, "Thank you. Now, there has been a change in plans."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, a little worried.

"There's no cause for concern. Instead, it is a mission for you, Miss Nikos, and your old teammates, Miss Valkyrie and Mister Lie."

Jaune rubbed his forehead a bit, "What about our relocation to Mistral?"

"It will still occur at the end of the month," Ozpin sipped his coffee again. When Jaune didn't say anything, he continued. "The four of you are to investigate this incidence."

"Exactly… how do we, uh, do that, sir?" Jaune asked.

"Reports of a masked woman have been reported over the last few years throughout the city, including from your friends from Team RWBY," Ozpin said.

"And you think they're related?"

"The first part of your mission will be to determine that," Ozpin said. Jaune nodded, prompting Ozpin to begin walking out of the room. "You'll begin tonight when you're dismissed from here. Most of the reports come from southern part of the residential district that'll be marked on the maps on each of your scrolls." He paused at the door and looked to his left, "Good morning, Miss Nikos." With that, he left the room.

"G-good morning," Pyrrha stammered sleepily as she woke up in the chair next to the room's door.

* * *

Blake stepped out into the open air as Ruby and Weiss set off to the parking structure nearby. "Let's go," Blake said.

Yang nodded as she finished adjusting the glove covering her right arm and they set off walking, with other people on the street giving them a decent sized berth when they saw Gambol Shroud on Blake's back. Halfway down the street, Yang said, "Note to self, buy a second car."

"You say that, yet we both know your 'car' will be another motorcycle," Blake said, adjusting the strap on her coat's left sleeve.

"Can you blame me? I couldn't exactly bring Bumblebee with me. Not without spending a stupid amount of money anyway," Yang said defensively.

"Yeah, well that's what happens when it crashes and wraps around a pole," Blake said, smiling smugly.

"Hey, I didn't crash it," Yang said, offended at the attack on her driving skills.

"Sure you didn't," Blake said, continuing on.

"I keep telling you, I got hit with a rocket! You were there!" The crowd around them parted even further. Yang quieted down a bit, "I mean come on, the White Fang was attacking the city." Blake turned around, letting Yang see the expression on her face. "You-you're… I hate when you lead me on like that."

"You fall for it every time," Blake said, sounding amused.

"That's because you do it so rarely," Yang said, annoyed. Blake turned back around and continued walking ahead of Yang who moved to catch up grunting in annoyance. After a few moments, she noticed something. "I thought you didn't like wearing that hat because it made everything sound muffled."

"What?" Blake asked, looking to her side at the other woman, her purple wool cap on her head.

"I, you, wha-" Yang sputtered for a few moments before pausing to collect her thoughts. "Please tell me you did that on purpose."

"Did what?" Blake asked, confused.

Yang didn't say anything for a few moments before conceding, "I said that I thought you didn't like wearing your hat because it muffles everything."

Blake nodded slowly, trying not to laugh. "It does, but after spending a day without it on, my ears were actually sore from the cold. I spent half an hour in the shower last night just so that the hot water would thaw them out."

"I know," Yang said, amusement in her voice. "My room's right next to the bathroom, I could hear you purring through the wall during part of it. You can get loud, you know that?"

"You've been waiting to bring that up since then, haven't you?" Blake asked, the amusement in her voice being replaced by annoyance.

"I haven't actually," Yang said honestly.

"I have a hard time believing that," Blake said. "You seem to bring it up every single time you hear me purr."

"There's a reason for that," Yang said, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Really?" Blake asked skeptically.

"Two actually," Yang said, looking at Blake. "The first is that you legitimately seem unaware that you do it," Yang paused, trying not to laugh, "and the second is that while we've known you're a faunus since our first year, you still actively hid it until your bow got damaged around, what three, four months ago now?"

"Four," Blake said remembering. "It was that same rocket blast that destroyed your motorcycle."

"Yeah," Yang said, remembering the attack. "How much farther do we have to go?"

"I think we're nearly to the end of this road," Blake said.

* * *

"Let's get going," Ruby said, grabbing Crescent Rose and its case from the back seat of the car.

"Slow down," Weiss said. "Assuming we even actually run into Beige, what are you going to say to him?"

"I don't know," Ruby said, stopping. "I feel like you'd have more to say than me." She shrugged, "And just like you said earlier, what's the actual likelihood that we'll run into him anyway? I figure that if we do eventually run into him, I'll have plenty of time to figure out a way to bring up the subject."

"Somehow I'm not surprised by that answer," Weiss said as she grabbed Myrtenaster and followed Ruby out onto the street and into the Plaza. It was exactly as she remembered, large, filled with statues and small monuments, and a decently sized crowd of people gathered outside the main entrance of the largest building to the city's northern side, and, strangely, a second crowd was gathered around the largest building to the southern side of the city as well. "Must be court proceedings going on."

"What?" Ruby asked, following Weiss's gaze. "Is that a big courthouse over there?"

"Yes, it's the Atlas Supreme Court" Weiss said, turning towards it. "I haven't heard about anything going on though."

"Then let's check it out," Ruby said, heading off towards it. Unlike most gatherings outside the courthouse, this group outside was quiet. There were no signs, and there was no commotion. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something, but whatever it was it certainly wasn't a court ruling. "Excuse me," Ruby said, getting the attention of a man nearby, "but what's going on here?"

"You don't know?" the man asked. "Eis Schnee is giving a speech in response to what happened yesterday.

"Wait, my father is giving a speech?" Weiss asked, surprised. Several people turned towards her, recognition quickly appearing on their faces upon seeing her. "Let me through," she demanded. The crowd quickly parted enough to allow Weiss to pass through, Ruby only just managing to keep up with her as the crowd quickly closed back up behind the heiress.

"There were people who recognized you in Vale," Ruby said when Weiss finally stopped near the front, "but this is kinda creepy."

Weiss wasn't listening. "I expected a response quickly, but not like this, not this fast." She shook her head, continuing to talk to herself, "Please, please don't treat him like you normally do in this situation."

"Weiss," Ruby said, tapping her shoulder, making her jump. "What's wrong?"

"It's… I want to be able to just say nothing, but... it's not, I know it's not. My father is _ruthless_ when it comes to people that cross him." She paused, taking a deep breath. "He's going to do everything he can to destroy Beige's reputation. Or at least what little reputation he's been able to gather over the last day."

"Weiss…"

Weiss shook her head, "You don't have to be here Ruby. We're supposed to be patrolling, so it'll probably be better if you weren't waiting here with me."

Ruby shook her head, "No, we're supposed to patrol the plaza and step in and make sure things are running fine." She smiled reassuringly, "We've got a large crowd here, so you're here to make sure nothing goes wrong. We may not be in Beacon anymore, but that doesn't mean we're not partners anymore. So, unless circumstances require otherwise, we work together, so I'm here to do the same."

Weiss didn't say anything for nearly a minute, but finally a relieved smile came over her, "Thank you."

"It looks like they're getting ready to start," Ruby said, as a few people hurried off the stage. "Let's hope Yang and Blake don't have to deal with anything like this."

* * *

"No," the man said seeing Blake and Yang approach.

"No, what!?" Yang demanded indignantly. "We just got here. We haven't even done anything!"

"Two new faces showing up with no warning. One armed," he glanced at the hilt of Gambol Shroud over Blake's shoulder, "the other probably as well," he looked over at Yang. "Considering you're not wearing military or company uniforms, that normally spells bad news. Well, tough luck, we're armed too and there's nothing special going on right now. We've actually got less deliveries than normal right now, so you can just turn around and walk away now."

"Wow, way to jump to conclusions," Yang said. "We're not here for anything. We were told to patrol the area. We're Huntresses, not thieves."

"If you're who you claim you are, I'd like to see some proof," he said skeptically. Blake pulled out her scroll and handed it to him after pulling up her profile. "Graduate from Beacon, hired on by the Atlesian Government. This checks out." The man took a short but deep breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was much kinder in tone, "I must apologize, normally out of towners don't show up for another few weeks. Anyone from here just skips that step and goes straight to their own missions, and they very rarely want to deal with the docks.

"So long as we won't be dealing with more delays down the road, we should be fine," Blake said, taking her scroll back.

"So long as you don't try and walk onto the actual docks themselves and just stay on the main walkways, and don't try and go beyond the public areas of the buildings, you shouldn't have any issues," the man said, walking off to join several other employees. Blake and Yang began walking along the docks heading east. The patrol quickly grew monotonous as there were no issues, and the sights were almost identical to what they'd seen in Vale, with the only differences being the larger number of docks, and the heavier clothing worn by the workers compared to the southern city.

"I really hope these patrols are in more interesting places down the road," Yang complained after a while. When Blake didn't answer, Yang looked over at the other woman to see a familiar lost look on her face. "Blake," Yang said, louder than normal, making the other woman jump and look over at her. Blake looked over to see a familiar smile on her face. "You're thinking about Sun aren't you?"

Blake sighed, wishing to avoid the subject, but knew it was going to come out eventually, "I was."

"It's been two months since you last talked about him, and you've tried to avoid the subject whenever anyone brings him up. Once upon a time, he was one of the few things that could get you talking our ears off." Yang's voice changed from a teasing tone, to a more caring one, "What happened? Did you get into another fight? Last time didn't last anywhere near this long."

Blake shook her head, "No, no, we're not fighting, we… well, we broke up."

Yang stopped dead in her tracks. "Seriously?"

"Well, it's more of I broke up with him," Blake said, wishing the subject would just blow over, but knowing it wouldn't.

"Do you mind me asking why? You seemed perfectly happy with him for over three years."

"And I was, but after the last attack on Vale," Blake paused, not sure how to say it, "I… well, I kinda thought over a lot of things, and I realized that while I enjoyed all the time I spent with Sun, it wasn't any different from spending time with Ruby, Weiss, or Team JNPR. Somewhere along the way," she shrugged, "I just stopped caring for him as anything more than a friend, a very good friend, but just a friend."

Yang nodded slowly, and the two of them started walking again, "How did he take it?"

Blake grimaced for a moment before answering, "Not too well. I know he'll be fine, he's always bounced back well, but he sure didn't look alright the last time I saw him."

"You're right, I'm sure he'll make it, he's got his team like we've got ours." Blake nodded as they came across a group of workers gathered around, not doing their job.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Yang called out to them, but didn't get an answer. She looked over at Blake, who shrugged, and they walked up to the group. As they got near, they heard what sounded like a speech, and a voice they'd heard several times over the last few years, Eis Schnee.

* * *

Weiss turned and left, disgust plain as day on her face. Eis had just finished his speech, and was beginning to take questions. Ruby couldn't blame her, she felt sick having heard some of what the man had said. She couldn't, nor did she want to, imagine what it was like hearing them come from a family member. "Of all the of the wrong, self serving, derogatory lies I've ever heard him say, I've never seen him spend so much time thoroughly trying to destroy another person!" Weiss said upon stopping in front of an obelisk far from the commotion that had started.

"Is that really a way to speak about your father?" It wasn't Ruby that had asked, it was a familiar male voice that caused both women to turn around.

"Beige!" Weiss called out in surprise.

"Hello Weiss," he said, walking over to the two of them. He wasn't wearing a suit or any form of fancy clothing, instead wearing a generic pair of pants and a high collar coat that covered up the sides of his jaw, and his burn with it. Perhaps the strangest thing though, was the look of glee on his face. "And what is your name?" he asked, extending his hand towards Ruby.

"Uh, m-my name is Ruby," she said, recovering from her own surprise as she shook his hand. His grip was strong, but not overly so.

"She was my partner and team leader at Beacon," Weiss explained as they released each other's hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. So, what are the two of you up to?" he asked, leaning against the obelisk.

"Technically we're patrolling the plaza," Ruby shrugged.

"You certainly did a good job keeping that crowd in line," he sounded amused.

"How long did you know we were there?" Weiss asked.

"The entire time," he answered. "I was one of the first people there actually. Amazing how easy it is to blend when your face isn't all that well known. When the two of you left, I decided to follow. And since you're patrolling, I take it you've yet to eat."

"No, we haven't," Weiss said. "Are you offering?" Beige nodded, and motioned for them to walk with him, "Surprisingly there are some places to eat without needing to leave the plaza. Or, maybe, not so surprisingly really." Seeing Weiss's face he added, "I'm sure you have questions Weiss, I'll answer them when we're inside." Weiss nodded, and she and Ruby followed him through the plaza and into a building on the western side.

Upon taking their seats, Weiss immediately started up, "So, I guess the first thing I want to ask is why you look so happy to have everything you've ever done torn apart by one of the most powerful men in the city."

Beige smiled wider, "_The _most powerful man in the city. Not just one of them, but the single most powerful. And there's every reason to be happy about that. There are people currently in the council who have spoken out more against Eis than I have, yet he's never responded against them. Yet he felt the need to tear apart a no name like me."

"And that's a good thing?" Ruby asked.

"I see," Weiss said, leaning back. "If there's anything my father has tried to teach me, it's that when trying to take down your enemies, you shouldn't empower them in the process."

"I don't see how that applies here," Ruby said, confused, as always, by political strategies.

"By giving him special attention," Weiss spelled out, "my father has made it clear that Beige really does have the influence he claims to have and isn't just speaking lies. He did the very thing he was so quick to criticize about whenever someone else did."

"Plus, he's making sure that the questions I get next week will be truly interesting," Beige said happily.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Weiss asked, her eyes widening. "You planned on getting my father to come out and tear you down just so you could offer a rebuttal next week."

Beige replied by placing his right index finger over his mouth for a moment, "I didn't plan on this exactly, but it certainly makes my job more exciting, and, if anything, easier. Now, any other questions?"

"More than you know," Weiss said taking a deep breath. "But I'm going to stick to the ones I'm most curious about." When Beige nodded, she asked, "How long have you been married?"

"I'm honestly surprised that wasn't the first question," Beige said, "if only a little. Now, let's see, how long's human-faunus marriage been legal in Atlas? Twenty… four years, coming up on twenty-five now," he shrugged. "I proposed the day the Supreme Court ruled bans on them illegal under the very foundations of Atlesian Law. Although I'd had the ring ready for over a year by that point."

"That sounds romantic," Ruby said, trying to imagine the scene.

"Only if you consider choking on your meal romantic. She had no idea the court had come to a decision until after I'd proposed," Beige said, laughing.

"Ruby, ask your question," Weiss said as their drinks were brought to the table.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Beige asked interested, looking at the younger woman.

"Oh, uh… have you… have you ever been to Vale?" Ruby asked nervously.

"That's certainly a question I've never been asked before," Beige replied, surprised. His surprise however did not compare to Weiss's when he continued on, "And to answer your question, I have. Only once though."

"Really?" Ruby asked, her face brightening. "When?"

"Uh, honestly I can't place a number of years to it. It was in the middle of the Vytal Festival, the second most recent one Vale held."

Ruby's face brightened even more, "It was fourteen years ago. I attended it with my dad, sister and uncle."

"Did you?" Beige asked, sounding legitimately surprised. "How old are you now? Twenty-one? You'd have been-"

"Nineteen."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm nineteen," Ruby said, "I got accepted into Beacon two years early."

"Impressive, so at nineteen now, that would mean you were five," Beige said, his eyes widening. "You said you had a sister?"

"Yeah, Yang," Ruby said. "She was on our team at Beacon."

"So she's two years older than you?" When Ruby nodded, he asked another question, "And her hair, is it blonde?"

"How do you know that?" Weiss asked.

"Because, on the third day of the festival, I heard what sounded like a mugging coming from a side street. When I went to investigate, I saw a knife wielding man standing over two young children. One of them, an seven year old blonde girl who had been knocked out, and her five year old sister with dark red hair was standing over her."

"Wait, I've heard this story before," Weiss said, looking at Ruby.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I don't really remember any of it, but Yang does, at least what she was conscious for."

"Small world we live in," Beige said. "I'm guessing your sister was the one told most of the story."

"Yeah," Weiss said, "to me and to Blake."

"Blake? Her partner and your last teammate I'm guessing," Beige said, taking a sip from his drink.

"Yeah," Ruby nodded. "Actually, you'll probably like this, Blake is a faunus."

Beige's eyebrows raised faster than Weiss had thought possible. "Really, what's sh-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Weiss said, looking over at Ruby, "I remember you also saying that the man said that you reminded him of his daughter."

"What? Wait, you're right," both women looked at Beige questioningly. "It can't be some weird coincidence that our stories are the same, right?"

Beige shook his head slowly, "It's not a coincidence, I did say that, and that's because she looked a lot like you did when you were younger, although her eyes were orange like her mother's, not silver."

"But, your wife's a faunus," Weiss said, incredulously.

"She is, we didn't realize she was pregnant until after we went to a doctor because neither of us thought it was possible." He shrugged, "We thought she was getting sick. Turns out it's very possible for a human and a faunus to have a child together. She actually looked a lot like her mother, with the only differences being hair color, and a slightly smaller tail."

"How is she now?" Ruby asked. "You never mentioned her yesterday."

Beige grimaced, "She... died when she was three. It's not, it's something neither my wife nor I can really bring ourselves to talk about most of the time, even now."

"I'm sorry," Weiss said honestly. "How, how long ago was this?"

"She'd be a year older than you are now," he said to Weiss. "Now, I guess it's my turn to ask a question. I've heard a lot of stories coming out of Vale over the last few years about the White Fang and a mystery woman who had something against Ozpin, care to fill me in on that?"

Ruby and Weiss both nodded, a single thought shared between them, "It's a long story."

"Four years worth of information, I would certainly qualify that as long," Beige smiled.

* * *

"Hi Jaune," came Nora's distinctive voice called out the moment Jaune stepped out of the cab as he and Pyrrha arrived at their destination, the sun having recently set, with the shattered moon hanging overhead instead.

"Hi Nora," Jaune said, turning to the sound. Nora appeared as if she was literally hanging off of Ren, and, Jaune figured, she probably had been not too long ago.

"Hi Pyrrha," Nora said, letting go of Ren entirely as the other two approached them.

"Hello Nora," Pyrrha said kindly as she and Jaune looked around. It was a section of the city they'd traveled to only once before in their third year, and the sight hadn't changed in the slightest. Dilapidated buildings abound throughout the area, with them being populated mostly by faunus.

"So, I hear there's someone else who's legs need to be broken," Nora said, getting straight to the point.

"No, no, we don't need you to follow through on that… again," Jaune said, the lightheaded feeling having finally left him. "We're just here to gather information."

"Oh," Nora said sadly.

"What are we gathering info on exactly?" Ren asked. "We were just told what happened and to be here now."

"The masked woman who helped Team RWBY out a few times against the White Fang," Pyrrha said. Ren nodded as Nora cheered back up as quickly as she always did.

"Oh her, I hope we find her, I've always wanted to thank her for saving Yang and everything else," Nora said cheerfully.

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, same here." They set out into the area. Most of the people turned away before any of them had the opportunity to even begin asking, and the few who did wait, weren't able to provide much information, if they had any at all. "An hour and we've got nothing," Jaune said, beginning to feel discouraged as they neared a house at the end of the street.

"Well, we've gotten some info, and we've still a large area to cover," Pyrrha said reassuringly as she knocked on the door.

"Yeah, well I'm getting close to just getting info my way," Nora said, grabbing Magnhild.

"I really don't think that's necessary, Nora," a familiar, and rather distinctive, voice came from the now open doorway. The team jumped and turned to face who had answered the door.

"Hi Velvet!" Nora called excitedly, returning Magnhild to her back. "I didn't realize you lived here!"

"Yeah, I've lived here since I graduated. Do you want to come in?" Velvet asked, stepping to the side.

"Uh, sure, thank you," Jaune said. While the building was far from spectacular looking on the outside, the inside was fairly nice and welcoming, and wouldn't have been out of place in more affluent neighborhoods.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Velvet asked, closing the door behind them. "The only visitors I get are either my neighbors or my teammates."

"We're trying to get info on a masked woman," Ren said. Velvet's head jerked so quickly to look over at him, her rabbit ears flapped about. Surprise was more than apparent on her face. "You've heard of her?"

"I've seen her," Velvet said. "Recently too."

"You have?" Nora asked, "Where!?"

"A few streets over," Velvet said. "Pull out your scroll, I can show you where on the map." Jaune nodded, and did as instructed. "Around here," she indicated a nearby side street. "Always around here."

"Always?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah," Velvet nodded. "I've seen her three times… maybe four. It can be hard to tell sometimes, because it's always late at night," she shrugged. "That dark out, I may be able to see better than you, but it can still be hard to make out things that blend it." Jaune nodded, Blake had mentioned the same thing on occasion when their two teams had been sent on joint missions to poorly lit places. "But everyone I know that has also seen her has also given that street as the area, especially at this intersection," she pointed to a crossroads with another side road.

"Thank you," Pyrrha said. "We won't bother you any longer."

"Oh it hasn't been a bother," Velvet said. "Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi all got sent on a mission to Vacuo to help with an increase in Grimm activity around their borders, so things have been fairly quiet around here."

"You didn't go with them?" Ren asked.

Velvet shook her head, "No, they only needed three, and the weather around Vacuo doesn't really agree with me, so I elected to stay behind. It hasn't been all that bad, just quieter than I'm used to."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Jaune said. "It's only been a few days, but things have been quiet for us too since Team RWBY got permanently assigned to Atlas."

"Already?" Velvet said, confused. "It's a little early for that."

"That's what we, and everyone else said," Nora called out, sounding exasperated.

Velvet smiled, "So, why are you interested in this woman anyway?"

"I was attacked by a masked figure when out on a mission recently," Jaune said. "Ozpin assigned us to check to see if the two are related."

Velvet nodded, "I hope not. I don't want to be more paranoid about this woman than I already am. All I can tell you is that the woman that's appeared around here is covered head to toe in black."

"So was the woman that attacked me," Jaune said.

"Oh," Velvet said quietly. She quickly perked back up and asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, but thank you for what you've been able to help with," Jaune said.

The others nodded, and saw themselves out. "I promise to visit again," Nora said as they exited the door. "We all do." Velvet smiled and nodded again before closing the door behind them. The team then made their way over to the intersection Velvet had pointed out. There were a few houses spread around, all of them in the same condition as the rest of the area. The first house they visited was answered by a man who closed the door immediately upon seeing them, the second got no reply. At the third house, the door was answered by an elderly cat eared woman with graying brown hair. "Hello," Nora said cheerily.

"Who are you?" the woman asked. "What are you?" her eyes focused on Crocea Mors hanging off of Jaune's side.

"We're Huntsmen," Jaune answered. "We're look-"

"Oh, come in, come in then," the woman said, her face brightening. "I'm always willing to help any Huntsmen out."

"Uh, thank you, ma'am," Jaune said, caught off guard. Just like Velvet's house, the inside was far nicer than the outside.

"Go on, take a seat," the woman said, closing the door behind them. As they sat, bar Nora, who opted to continue standing next to Ren, the lady asked, "What is it I can help you with?"

"We're looking for any information we can get on a masked woman spotted in the area," Ren said.

"Oh," the woman's face dropped. "I'm sorry. I've only heard stories myself. My eyesight has been failing me for a long time now, so I've never been able to see her."

"That's fine," Pyrrha said kindly. "Just telling us what you've heard, would help a lot. A lot of people around here haven't really helped us out much."

"I'm not surprised," the woman said, taking an empty seat. "Some of the people around here don't have a lot of trust in humans. They prefer to avoid dealing with them as much as they can, even if it's more of a pain to them than it would be otherwise. Well, from what I've heard, she's been seen around here for a long time now. Maybe two decades, no I know it's been two decades, because the stories started around the time…" she trailed off.

"Around what time, ma'am?" Jaune asked.

"You four were students at Beacon, correct?" The four of them nodded. "Hold on a moment," the woman said as she stood. She walked over to her fireplace, and grabbed a large picture frame from the center of it, and handed it to the team to see. They immediately recognized where it came from. It was two different pictures of a team of students at Beacon in their combat gear and holding their weapons.

The top picture was taken at the beginning of their first week at the academy after initiation, the bottom was taken at the end of their last week before graduation, separating the two pictures was the team's name, and the initials of each student, AMBR, spelling out their team name. Like most students, the four of them were wearing the same style clothing in each picture. Their weapons, however, looked different in each image as it was standard practice to upgrade your weapon at the beginning of the second year. The first woman was holding a pair of daggers with yellow blades in the top image, and blue on the bottom, and the holsters on each of legs were larger in the bottom image. In addition, while her black hair had a single orange stripe in the top image, it was replaced by a series of orange highlights throughout in the bottom. The second woman was half a head taller than the first, and was holding what appeared to be a type of short rifle that had a long tube inside the bottom part of the weapon that ran most of its length that was longer and darker in the second image, and the barrel seemed to stick out from the end of the weapon above the tube as well. Her blue hair, while cut short in the top image, was shoulder length in the bottom. The third woman, who was roughly the same height as the first woman, had long pink hair and cat ears, and looked nearly identical across each image, the only difference being a long thin scar running along her left cheek. Between her and the second woman was a man, a head taller than the blue haired girl, with green hair holding a long torch which had a thicker top half on the bottom image. In addition, the man was wearing glasses in the bottom image. "Is that Oobleck?" Nora asked, being the first to recognize him.

"He would have been one of your teachers if I'm not mistaken," the older woman said.

The team nodded in unison, and Pyrrha spoke up, "The woman down at the end, is she your daughter?"

The woman nodded, "Yes, Rosa."

"Oobleck's mentioned her in class," Jaune said. "Was, was that what you were talking about with this woman showing up, after she..." he trailed off.

Rosa's mother smiled sadly, "After she died, and no," she took a deep breath. "No, although the two events weren't all that far apart. No, I was referring to what happened to Mizu," the woman said solemnly. "The blue haired girl," she added seeing their confused expressions. "I'm not surprised you don't know, it's a difficult subject for anyone involved to talk about, even now, but especially for someone who knew her since childhood."

"Who is she?" Jaune asked. "What, what happened?"

The woman smiled sadly. "Her name was Ao Mizu."

"You mean like the old weapon producers?" Nora interrupted. "Ruby mentioned them once when I was talking with her about upgrades for Magnhild."

"Yes, she was my daughter's partner at Beacon," the woman nodded. "And she was a childhood friend of Bartholomew's. The team had been through so much in such a short period of time after their graduation with an attack on an otherwise peaceful White Fang meeting, and… and my daughter's death," she bit her bottom lip.

"If you don't want to continue-" Jaune started up, only to be silenced by the elderly woman raising her hand.

"No, it's alright, it's hard, but it's not something I want kept quiet. Now, the events were horrible, and they each tried finding ways to cope. Bartholomew dedicated all his time towards working towards his doctorate. Amber got permission for temporary leave and returned to Mistral to be with her family for a while. They're both so sweet, and still visit me from time to time. Mizu on the other hand, my daughter's death," she bit her bottom lip again for a moment before forcing herself on, "it was especially painful on her, it left her heartbroken, and eventually she… well she claimed her own life."

A shiver ran down the team's spines at the thought. "Oh," Nora said, unusually quiet.

Rosa's mother sighed, the pained expression slowly fading from her face, "Yes, now I'm afraid I've delayed you for too long. I just know that this woman started being seen around a few months after that happened. I wish I could help more."

"It's alright," Pyrrha said comfortingly, as the team stood. "Thank you for your help, it wasn't much, but it was enough." Rosa's mother nodded, and bade them farewell as they started leaving. As Jaune returned the picture to its place above the fireplace, two other pictures caught his attention. To the right was an old picture of the older woman with a full head of brown hair standing next to a blonde haired man, and two children, a younger, still early teenage, Rosa and a black haired toddler. It was clearly an old family picture. To the left was a picture of Mizu and Rosa with their arms around each other's necks huge smiles on both women's faces, a small amount of blood running down Rosa's face from a long gash running down her left cheek. Oobleck and another man with black hair that vaguely resembled Professor Port were standing over a decently sized Grimm that had yet to fully dissolve. "Jaune," Pyrrha called from the doorway.

"Coming," Jaune said, before turning to Rosa's mother. "Thank you for your help, and, I know it's been a long time, but you have my condolences." The elderly woman smiled kindly as Jaune quickly left to rejoin his team. "I guess we should refocus on searching for this woman again."

"I don't think we need to look far," Ren said, pointing. The others quickly looked at where he was indicating and saw a masked woman in black standing on the roof of a building nearby, her body framed by the moon behind her, the pale light shining from the celestial body obscured any major details of her figure or her mask. Before any of them could even process the sight fully, she had turned around and moved to the other side of the building.

"Something tells me she was waiting for us," Jaune said, as they ran around to the back of the building, a bright flash shining from around the corner as they got close. Turning the corner, they found themselves in a completely empty back alley.

"Yeah, me toooo!" Nora yelled as she slipped and fell. "Stupid wet ground, when did it even rain?" She picked herself back up off the ground.

"It hasn't," Pyrrha said, kneeling down. "The ground's dry here."

Jaune knelt down and felt around as well. "Yeah, same here- no, wait." He felt a patch of wet ground, and feeling around, found it was forming a distinct line. He lifted his hand up and smelt up, "This isn't water, it's oil." They quickly moved away from that patch of the ground.

"It feels like it's making a pattern," Ren said, feeling around.

"Does anyone have any fire Dust?" Pyrrha asked. The others shook their heads.

"Ren, go ask Velvet," Jaune said. "If anyone will have any, she will." Ren nodded, and pulled out his scroll and left, heading out to Velvet's place. A few minutes later he returned, the rabbit eared girl in tow.

"What's going on?" she asked. Jaune gave a quick summary of what had happened, prompting Velvet to nod. "Okay, so where's this oil?"

"Here," Pyrrha said, pointing to a spot next to her. Velvet nodded, and grabbed a small red crystal from her pocket, and placed it on the oil and triggered it. The flames spread quickly revealing an image of a large stylized wolf head surrounded by a circle.

"Isn't that the White Fang logo?" Nora asked as the flames began to dissipate.

"Close," Velvet said, "it's their old logo. The one that they abandoned nine years ago after they turned to violence."

"The old White Fang logo," Jaune said, looking up at a secondary Cross Continental Transmit Tower in the distance, "I think we might have a long night still ahead of us."

* * *

"Yeah... yeah, alright… bye" Ruby said into her scroll before hanging up. "Yang said she and Blake'll be be home late."

"Okay," Weiss said, sounding distracted.

"You're still hung up on what Beige said earlier? Or is it your dad?" Ruby asked as they stepped out of the elevator.

"It's everything that's going on," Weiss said, shaking her head. "But it's mostly what Beige said. Specifically the large donation he got from Scarlett."

"And you're really sure it's the same Scarlett?" Ruby asked, as she opened the door.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. I'm also sure that if my father ever finds out, she'll be out of a job in a heartbeat," Weiss shook her head again, sitting down. "I've always known she sympathized with the faunus, but it's one thing to support something you believe in, it's another thing completely to put your entire career on the line. Especially one where your employer can blacklist you without being questioned."

"Weiss, I'm sure things'll work out," Ruby said.

"Yeah, well, call me a pessimist, because I'm not so sure."

"Well-" Ruby was interrupted by the sound of her scroll ringing with an incoming call. Pulling it out she let out a sound of surprise. "Oh, uh, hi, Jaune," she answered.

"Hi, Ruby, is Blake there?" Jaune asked.

"Blake? No, she's not, it's just me and Weiss. Why?"

"There's some questions we need to ask her about. It's… well, about the White Fang," Jaune answered.

"The White Fang?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, it's about from before they turned to terrorism," Jaune answered. "Do you know what she's doing? I've tried to reach her but the call failed."

"No," Ruby answered. "I just talked to Yang a few minutes ago. Jaune, what's this about?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Jaune answered truthfully. "If you've got time, I can tell you what little we've got."

"Sure," Ruby answered, switching the scroll over to speaker phone, "Tell us what you can."

"Okay, so, uh, now to figure where to start," Jaune said quietly.

* * *

"Finally, the end of the day," Yang said as her scroll's alarm went off. Pulling it out, she checked the map after disabling the alarm. "Oh, wonderful, we severely overshot the way we came in."

"So we've just got a long walk back," Blake said, turning around. "I'm pretty sure we figured that would happen after we decided to head west for the afternoon."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Yang said, putting her scroll back away. The two of them set off walking back past all the areas they'd covered. They were making decent time as they were walking rather quickly compared to the more leisurely stroll they'd taken up while patrolling. "Like I said earlier, I'm going to replace Bumblebee, and I'm going to do it this weekend," Yang said when they finally reached the first main street.

"Yeah, I know," Blake said as her scroll rang. "Hello?... Okay, thank you, I can be there tonight… Thank you, good-bye," she hung up, and put her scroll away. "Apparently, there aren't that many custom coat jobs this time of year, because mine's already finished."

"So, go and pick that up before we head home?" Blake nodded. "Alright, then I'll tell Ruby," Yang got her own scroll out, and called her sister. "Hey, Ruby… Yeah, Blake and I won't be there for a little while… We're a little ways away right now and we're going to make a small detour to a shop in Ao Plaza… Okay, bye. Apparently she and Weiss just got back themselves." Blake nodded, and they set off again. Because of the unusual time, there was lull in traffic, the sidewalk was nearly empty, and the entire area was unusually quiet. The building fronts lit up the area making up for the overcast sky blocking out the moon somewhat. After a few minutes, they heard a commotion coming out of a nearby alley. "And here I was thinking we were going to have an uneventful day, well, other than the speech earlier."

Blake nodded, preferring not to think about the speech, and they walked over to the alley. It was very dark, and there was a young man lying on the ground, holding his right leg. "Are you alright?" Blake asked, kneeling down over the man.

"I'll be fine," the man said, blood seeping through his pant leggings. "The guy who attacked us took my brother," he pointed with his free hand towards another corner.

"Alright," Yang said, deploying Ember Celica and started off towards the corner. Blake left the man her scroll for him to call the police and set off after Yang, grabbing Gambol Shroud, but not removing the sheath quite yet. As they neared the corner, a man came flying out from around it, hit the wall and slid down. Stepping out from where the man had come from was a familiar figure, the masked woman. Even from the side, they could make out the dark blue marking on her mask. She did not turn to face the two of them, instead reaching down and grabbing the man by the throat with her left hand and lifted him up, pinning him against the wall. A young boy ran past them and over to the man clutching his leg.

"Please, mercy," the man said before the woman tightened her grip on his throat.

"Let him go!" Yang demanded, raising her fists. The woman turned her head towards Blake and Yang, and pointed past them with her free right hand towards the man lying behind them. "Regardless, let him go," Yang said, keeping her voice calm.

"The police are on their way," Blake said, holding the sharpened edge of Gambol Shroud's sheath towards the woman's head. "He won't get away." As she said this, the man passed out from lack of air, prompting Yang to try and attack the woman, who let the man go and quickly ducked the blow. She promptly responded by kicking Yang in the stomach, producing a white flash from her Aura and knocking her backwards, nearly hitting Blake. Blake, however, quickly moved out of the way, taking the time to quickly unsheathe Gambol Shroud as she did. Yang quickly regained balance, her stomach damp from melted ice that had been formed around the woman's boot when she struck. The woman slowly turned to face them fully, and looked at Blake.

Blake took a step backwards, aiming Gambol Shroud at the woman's throat. The woman responded by extending her right hand towards the blade, fire quickly enveloping the glove. Blake struck out at the arm with her sheath, and the woman's arm was knocked out of the way, but was otherwise uninjured as the blue flash of her Aura protected her from being hurt. The woman responded by striking out with her other hand, the crackle of electricity reaching Blake's ears just as she dodged out of the way and into the air above her opponent. The Shadow she left behind dissipating as electricity quickly ran over its form. From her angle, Blake noticed what looked like a faint glow coming from the woman's mask. Quickly putting the thought in the back of her mind, Blake formed another Shadow to use as leverage as she lunged herself at the woman from above striking out with both blades as Yang quickly charged forward to attack her from a second angle at the same time.

Blake's blades struck stone as the woman's left arm became encased in it nearly too quickly to for Blake to see, her right arm extended outward towards Yang, a blast of wind sending the blonde woman flying backwards and out of the alley. Her short flight was halted by a car parked on the curb, its alarms beginning to blare. Changing tactics, Blake quickly tapped into the Dust held in Gambol Shroud's hilt, forming a Shadow out of ice as she moved herself to get closer to Yang, while stealing a quick glance in that direction to see that Yang already picking herself up from where she had landed. Seeing that her partner was okay, Blake looked back down the alley to see that the sword and sheath of her ice Shadow had wrapped around the woman's arm, yet by the time Blake landed on the ground partway down the alley, her arm was free, and the stone that had coated her arm was on the ground. Blake combined her Semblance with Dust once again to propel herself farther than normal when she moved next, the Shadow she left behind losing its shape of its own accord as it quickly distorted before disappearing after a second.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked the moment she landed next to Yang just outside the alley, the man and his brother having moved out onto the main road the moment the fight had started. Around them were a number of other people that had been in the area.

"Yeah," Yang answered, assuming a combat stance, "I'm guessing she's not one we need to worry about accidentally killing if we go all out."

"No, definitely not," Blake said, reassuming her own combat stance as the woman walked down the alley. "How hard can you hit right now?"

"My right arm may afford me a lot of stopping power, but I've only been hit once, and then hit a car. And, all things considered that second one wasn't all that hard."

"That's what I thought," Blake said, charging forward. Yang quickly moving in behind her. When Blake got within close quarters of the woman, she quickly moved to the left, producing a Shadow that Yang simply punched through, causing it to erupt into blast of wind that propelled the blonde woman forward into their masked opponent, and finally successfully scoring a hit against her. The masked woman stumbled backwards, the blue flash of her Aura coming twice as Yang had fired her gauntlet at the same time she'd struck. Blake, meanwhile, moved to strike the woman from the side, but, like before, the woman's arm was quickly covered in stone to block the strike a second time. This time Blake was sure that the woman's mask had been glowing, however, she still had other things to worry about as the stone also enveloped Gambol Shroud's blade, allowing the woman to disarm Blake with a quick movement of her arm. Blake dodged out of the way, however, because she was unable to remove Gambol Shroud from the stone, she was forced to leave it behind.

Yang quickly moved in to strike again, however the woman's other arm had also become enveloped in stone, which absorbed most of the energy from the strike. However it was not perfect, and the stone shattered, but the arm underneath was perfectly intact without the assistance from her Aura shield. The woman quickly responded with a second kick to Yang's stomach, electricity spreading through Yang's body, causing her entire body to flash white as her Aura tried to block the electricity from harming her. The protection was great, but not absolute as most of the electricity was focused at the point of contact between the woman's boot and Yang's stomach where the wet patch from the earlier blow had yet to fully evaporate. Conducting the electricity, the water allowed the shock to quickly drain Yang's Aura. With a third kick, Yang, propelled by a blast of wind, was thrown backwards out of the alley once again, this time landing on the sidewalk. Trying to stand back up, Yang couldn't help but fall to one knee.

Blake quickly struck out with her sheath when Yang had been electrocuted, however she was stopped by the woman's stone covered arm once again. The black haired woman quickly moved out of the way, tapping Gambol Shroud as she did. The brief moment of contact with her weapon was enough for her to make use of its stored Dust once again, and she used it to leave behind a Shadow made of fire that she expected to explode as she quickly moved to the woman's other side in an attempt to get to Yang once again. However, she was stopped dead as the woman grabbed Blake by the neck with her right hand and held the black haired woman above the ground. Because it hadn't been disturbed, the fire behind the two of them quickly smoldered out instead of exploding. Blake struck out with her sheath again again trying to get in a strike, however the woman grabbed Blake's wrist and sent a small shock into her arm. While it wasn't enough to even remotely come close to draining her Aura completely, the sensation still caused her to drop the sheath as the stone covering the woman's arm also fell to the ground with Gambol Shroud still embedded in it.

"Blake!" Yang called out as she stood back up, ready to attack again. The woman responded by clenching her left hand into a fist and holding it up near Blake's head, a glow running along the glove, and from the dark blue markings on her mask, as a blade formed overtop her arm with the tip extending under Blake's chin. Yang let out an angry yell as she stood down. While the woman's mask had stopped glowing when the blade had finished forming, the markings lit up once again as Blake felt a ring of stone extended from the woman's glove around her neck, and Blake felt herself move out of the woman's direct grip as the ring extended over her throat as well so that the woman was now holding onto the stone ring instead of her. "Stop it!" Yang called out, hating that she couldn't help her partner. The woman lowered her left arm, and held it out so that Yang had a clear view of the side of her arm as the blade disappeared with the glove and mask glowing once again. "Are you going to let her go?"

The woman responded by having ice form around her arm in the vague shape of a gauntlet, her mask glowing as it formed before darkening when it stopped. She stood there for a moment before having part of it quickly melt reducing the gauntlet to the size of a bracelet. Yang let out a growl of anger as she deactivated Ember Celica. "Now let her go," Yang said, barely controlled anger evident in her voice. The woman responded by melting half of the ice bracelet on her arm causing it to fall to the ground. Yang was beginning to shake with pure rage as she slowly removed the bracelets from her arms and let them drop to the ground. "I'm unarmed, now please, let her go," Yang said, close to begging as the woman began to walk forward. As the woman got closer, Yang's left leg gave out and she found herself on her knees. "Please," Yang said again, "I can't stand up to you, I can't even stand at all anymore if I tried," The woman stopped in front of Yang and did nothing for a moment. In the pause, Yang finally noticed her scroll giving off a warning sound for a low Aura reading over the sound of the car.

Yang closed her eyes, waiting for the woman to do whatever it was she was preparing to do, and what came was a fourth kick to her stomach, this one coming with yet another blast of wind knocking her a short distance into the air. She then felt a large object strike her along with one final blast of wind that sent her flying backwards. She couldn't make out what had struck her, but she could see that she was flying over the large street. She also caught of glimpse of the woman, who had finally let go of Blake, as she put down her arm. The next thing Yang knew, she was flying through a glass window and struck a back wall. After she fell to the ground, she felt a heavy object land on her back, and a quick look around showed that she was in a bakery.

She tried to stand, but she stopped after hearing a moan of pain behind her. Turning her head, Yang's eyes widened when she saw that the object that had landed on her, and what the woman had struck her with, had been Blake, the ring of stone still around her neck. The woman crossed the street and stopped outside the bakery for a moment before turning to leave. Yang felt herself fill with uncontrolled rage again, and found herself yelling as her eyes narrowed in on the woman's Grimm mask. "What, are you going to go join your friends in the White Fang now!?"

The woman stopped dead in her tracks, returned to the broken window, and climbed into the bakery. She then picked Yang up by her neck and pulled the blonde woman's face up close to her mask. "As far as I'm concerned, the White Fang ceased to exist nine years ago," her words were clear despite the mask covering her entire face, and sent a deep chill down Yang's spine. The woman dropped Yang and stepped back as sounds of police sirens started to be heard in the distance. Instead of walking away, a bright white light began to emanate from her coat and enveloped her entire body, causing Yang to cover her eyes to avoid being blinded. When the light faded, the woman was gone, a small crowd of people were beginning to gather outside the bakery as Yang let out a loud roar of anger.

"Yang," Blake's week voice came behind her. Yang turned and hurried over to her.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked, her anger being replaced by worry as she saw that the ring of stone around her neck was thicker than she'd thought. Pulling out her scroll, Yang checked their Aura levels, Blake's was nearing the red but not enough to be worried about for most fights, Yang's however was in a critical condition and wouldn't have saved her from another hit.

"I'll be alright, it doesn't restrict my breathing," she said weakly. Yang let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back into a sitting position next to Blake as they waited for the authorities to show up. "What did she say?"

Yang shook her head, "That she wasn't with the White Fang. I'm not surprised, I didn't even mean the question. But…"

"But what?" Blake asked, trying to avoid passing out.

"Her voice, it sounded dead, no, dead isn't quite right." Yang shook her head again, partially trying to figure it out, partially in an attempt to clear it. "Empty? Yeah, that's it," just trying to describe it made another shiver run through her body. "It… it sounded like she was completely empty inside, as… as if she had no emotions."

End of Part 1: Introduction

**A/N3: So, with Qrow's VA announced to be Vic Mignogna, I feel I should probably mention that the Dust blades were inspired by Edward Elric's metal arm blade from Fullmetal Alchemist. You know, just with two of them and not requiring an automail arm.**

**A/N4: So, when I first posted this, I left Rosa's apparent fate far more vague, as in only very very very vaguely implied, since I hadn't decided yet on how to handle that, but since I've made my decision since then and I was doing some editing anyway, I figured I'd make it blatant right from the get go.**

**A/N5: So, something that occurred to me while writing the fight at the end was that I was putting what could very easily be called a collar on a faunus, and that was far from what it is. The idea of the ring is that it's stone, it's extremely rough and brushing up against an area as sensitive and important as the neck would cause it to gradually wear away at the person's Aura as they moved since they wouldn't really want to leave that vulnerable. The idea came to me while thinking of a way I could incorporate something like a poison status ailment from various RPGs into the story. The Unfortunate Implications trope aside though given that it was a fluke, I do like the idea a lot, which is why I kept it in, and I'm certainly going to be using it more down the road.**

**A/N6: This is the last chapter that has all post chapter Author's Notes added later on, all the notes from later chapters are from when they were initially uploaded unless specified otherwise.**

**A/N7-P: So yeah... Yang losing an arm to Adam was way too much for me to ignore going forward. Obviously the context behind the incident isn't being used, but the event in general... I just couldn't ignore it. Ironically this means that the girl with the metal arm was fighting someone using a weapon based on Ed Elric's arm blade, but oh well. That's still nothing compared to her uncle being voiced by Vic. I swear RT chose to have him voice Qrow of all people in light of Monty's passing because of what they had planned for Yang.**


	5. Snarl of Emotions

**A/N1: And back to the past, that phrase doesn't sound right. Anyway, we return to get another glimpse into what Team AMBR was doing during their time at Beacon.**

Rosa laughed. She quickly found herself doubling over nearly unable to breathe, and had to move out of the middle of the hall to avoid blocking the other students on their way to class. "Oh come on, it wasn't that funny," Mizu said, frowning indignantly. Rosa continued laughing for a few more moments before slowing down enough that she was able to start taking several deep breaths to calm herself down. Standing back up straight, she wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"You're right it's not and I'm laughing far harder at that than I should be, but it also wasn't just what you said, it was, well it was mostly what you said, but it was primarily the transition from talking about how Grimm continue to grow larger,to you randomly change the subject to hair. Of all things, _hair._"

"It wasn't all that sudden," Mizu defended, trying to save face. "I was just mentioning how a lot of people continue to grow their hair longer and longer, like you," she pointed towards a decent amount of Rosa's hair that trailled over her shoulder and down in front of her stomach.

Rosa let out another short laugh, while pushing the hair behind her back, "And here's the second thing, you can't just randomly complain about that when your hair is the longest I've seen it the entire time I've known you."

Mizu let out a short annoyed sigh. "This," she indicated her shoulder length hair, "is the longest I ever let it grow out back in Atlas, I-"

"Let me guess, it was one of the things you did to help adjust to Vale's heat," Rosa said, glancing down at Mizu's bare legs as she'd forgone wearing her uniform's stockings as opposed to both Rosa herself as well as Amber. All the while, she was still trying to prevent herself from beginning to laugh again.

"Actually," Mizu said, the two of them starting to walk down the hall again, "it was, but I've never worn it out longer than this. Whereas you've grown yours out to the point every time you turn your back to me I just see a large curtain of pink. I don't understand how that doesn't get in your way when fighting."

"It's not actually that hard," Rosa said. "Unlike Amber or you, at least when you use your staff anyway, I don't flip around or spin a lot. You'd be amazed out much of a non issue it is when you don't do some of those crazy movements."

"I'll keep that in mind down the road," Mizu said, a sarcastic tone entering her voice.

"Good, I expect you to get that answer right on my test then," Rosa said, opening the door out of the building.

"Do not mention tests right now," Mizu shook her head. "We just left Peach's classroom, and she has one coming up Friday."

"I know," Rosa said, sounding confused. "What's so bad about it though? Her tests are never all that hard."

"When we were dealing with the surrounding areas last semester, yeah, I agree it was very easy. But this one's focused on Aura," Mizu said, sounding increasingly annoyed.

"And that's why you're dragging me to the library?" Rosa asked. "You do remember I can just teach you everything Aura related we're going to be dealing with until halfway through our second year, right?"

"That's not the reason I'm dragging you to the library."

"Then what is?" Rosa looked over at the other girl.

"You'll find out," Mizu said teasingly.

* * *

If there was any sight that just screamed gibberish, the chess board currently lying on the table between Amber and Oobleck certainly was one, at least to Amber. She knew how each individual piece moved now after a few short lessons from her partner, but she had no clue how to deal with the mess the board had become. "It's your move," Oobleck said.

"I know, Barty, I know," Amber said, both she and Rosa having long since adopted Mizu's nickname for the boy, "It's been my move for several minutes now." Amber shook her head before moving her white tiled Bishop, which Oobleck immediately took with his Rook. "Well, at least it wasn't a Pawn that took it," she said, remembering how she'd lost her Queen the previous game.

"Give it time," Oobleck said, amusement clear in his voice.

"I'm sorry, did you just taunt me?" Amber looked at him incredulously. "That's not very sportsmanlike of you."

"Give me a decent challenge, and I'll be a good sport again," Oobleck smiled.

"Wow, just wow," Amber shook her head.

"See? I told you this would be entertaining," Mizu's voice came from behind her.

Amber quickly turned around to see Mizu and Rosa standing behind her, both having large amused smiles on their faces matching Oobleck's. "How long have you two been standing there?"

"About ten minutes," Mizu shrugged. "Would have come here with the two of you from the start, but Professor Peach wanted to talk with Rosa. So, how many times have you lost so far?"

Amber let out an annoyed sigh, "Twice." Oobleck grunted. "I am not counting that first game."

Mizu nodded, trying not to laugh, "And I can see that it would have been four, sorry, three, already if he wasn't going easy on you."

"Yeah," Amber said, annoyance becoming clearer in her voice, "I know. Is there anything else the two of you are here for, or are you just here to revel in my embarrassment?"

"Hey," Mizu said, taking a seat at the table next to Oobleck, "Barty taught me how to play chess. I'm just glad to see someone else have to suffer through it after all this time." Mizu smiled mischievously as she saw the state the board was in close up.

"We haven't played in a long time," Oobleck said, looking over at Mizu.

Mizu nodded, "Yeah, well, I'll be free for a game Saturday if you want."

"And here I thought that, out of the four of us, you'd be the one to be preparing for the dance last minute," Rosa said.

"She probably is," Oobleck said, looking back towards the chessboard. "But her last minute will probably be preparing Sunday morning instead of Saturday afternoon."

Mizu smiled, "You know me so well. It's not like I've got a date anyway, so it's not like I've got to really prepare," she shrugged, "I've got my dress reserved at the store, I just need to pick it up and prepare back here. There's plenty of time beforehand the day of."

Rosa shook her head, "You know, I'm amazed you don't have a date for the dance. From what I've heard, you're pretty infamous around Atlas for your dating habits. I'd have thought that there'd be boys climbing over themselves to ask you out."

"No, and I'm thankful they weren't," Mizu said honestly. "I got my wish about being unknown here, most people took my name as being a nice coincidence. It's actually pretty great."

"Yeah, and if there's anyone I'm surprised doesn't have a date, it's you," Amber said, looking at Rosa. "You've been stopped constantly in the halls the last few days. I swear a decent number of them have been human too."

Rosa smiled, "A few of them were, actually, and it was certainly a nice change from growing up. But," she smiled more broadly, "none of them were what I'm looking for."

Mizu laughed, "Picky aren't we?"

"I've always been picky after there's someone I've set my eyes on," Rosa said, cocking one of her eyebrows.

"You going to share who he is?" Mizu asked.

Rosa shrugged, "Not quite yet, although if the time comes and I'm still dateless, I plan to take matters into my own hands."

"A girl asking a guy out, especially after she's rejected what feels like half our grade," Mizu said. "I'm sure he'll feel like an idiot afterwards if he hasn't got a date already." Rosa didn't say anything and just sat there smiling.

"Yeah, well I haven't been asked out by that many guys," Amber said, refocusing her attention on the board again, "so I'm probably going to wind up doing the same thing."

"That's three for three thus far," Rosa said, turning to Oobleck. "Barty, have you asked anyone out so far?"

Amber let out a frustrated grunt as Mizu answered for him, "No." Mizu stood laughing for a few moments before continuing on. "I can guarantee he hasn't." With a quick movement she moved one of Amber's Knights so that it was standing directly next to one of Oobleck's Bishops, and just the right angle from his King. "Check," she said, before walking off.

"Uh, thank... you," Amber said unsure, looking away from the board. Rosa laughed again as she began to follow her partner. Oobleck quickly moved his King out of the way. "So," Amber looked at Oobleck, "I can move the Knight either left or right after moving forward, right?" When Oobleck nodded, Amber smiled, and claimed his Queen, "Check."

Oobleck looked back at the board, and stared for a moment, "Wait, I thought I moved my King there," he looked back at Amber annoyed. "I did move my King there, you know that's considered cheating."

"Yeah, but it's payback for taunting me earlier."

* * *

Mizu stuck her feet into the pool of water in the Beacon gardens. "You do that every time we come here," Rosa shook her head.

"That's because it feels good," Mizu said, looking up at the darkened sky.

"You say that every time too," Rosa sat down next to Mizu. "I still don't see the attraction."

"Of course you don't," Mizu said, looking at Rosa's ears for a moment before kicking her left foot out of the water. She quickly extended her left hand, a black glow appearing around it. In an instant, all the water droplets in the air halted their movements, and remained in place, suspended in mid air.

"I've seen better," Rosa said wryly. Mizu let out a short exaggerated breath of annoyance and directed the water onto Rosa's head. "Hey, hey, hey!" she yelled jumping back up before quickly falling back onto the ground. "What was that for?" she demanded as she started drying her face.

"Don't criticize my work," Mizu said teasingly.

"I'll stop if you can get the water off of me," Rosa said, trying to dry her hair.

"Sure thing," Mizu said, and, as she did, Rosa's hair began moving around as the water moved out of it. "I may not be the best when it comes to general Aura manipulation, but when it comes to water manipulation, I can't be beat."

"Maybe, but you've still got a way to go, you still have an issue changing its state," Rosa said, sitting back down.

"True, but I have perfected something else," Mizu said jumping to her feet.

"And what would that be?" Rosa said, looking up at her.

"I'm already doing it," Mizu pointed down.

Rosa looked down and laughed, "You can walk on water." She shook her head, "So long as you don't get any big ideas from that, I don't have a big problem with it. I'll have less of a problem as soon as you can change it to ice for me to join you." Mizu grunted in acknowledgement as she sat back down on the edge of the pool. "That was actually a direction," Rosa smiled smugly, "try and change as much of the pool to ice as you can.

"Oh, lovely," Mizu said, pulling her feet back out of the water. She knelt down on the edge and placed her hand on the surface of the water. The water gradually froze, spreading out from her hand, quickly covering the surface of the entire pool. Following that the ice slab gradually moving upward as the water below it froze and expanded as well. After nearly twenty seconds, Mizu sat back next to the large slab of ice. "There, entire thing," she sounded a little tired.

"You're getting better," Rosa said. "Last time we hadn't had sparring practice earlier in the day and you only managed to get half of it. Mizu nodded, and motioned downward with her hand, causing the entire slab to quickly melt back, surprising her partner, "Normally you have to wait to change it back."

"Yeah, well normally I'm out of energy after the first change, but it's easier to turn it back into the state it started in than it is to change it to something else," Mizu said, not sounding any more tired than she was after the first change. "Now, let's get started on what's on the upcoming test."

Rosa nodded, as she pulled out her scroll, "Alright, where to start? What's been giving you the most problems?"

"Let's start with the things I was completely phased out during in class," Mizu said, pulling out her own scroll. "Uuuuh, okay, here's something, Aura Locks."

Rosa nodded, "Well, at least it's something simple."

* * *

"I still can't believe you actually waited until Sunday morning to get everything," Rosa shook her head as the airship from Beacon touched down in the city of Vale.

"Yes, you can," Mizu said, standing up from her seat.

"No, no, I really can't. A lot of things you do I can start to understand anymore, but not this," Rosa said as she followed Mizu out onto the open square around the landing pad.

"Hey, you didn't come pick up your dress yet either," Mizu glanced back.

"Because of you," Rosa pointed out. "You've been so focused on getting caught up on Aura lessons throughout the week."

"And what about yesterday? I was just playing chess all day yesterday. You could have gone at any time."

"...good point," Rosa admitted after a few moments as she followed Mizu through the streets to a large store at an intersection. "Just being in here makes me feel poor." The store was filled with numerous high quality suits and dresses for various occasions.

"Yeah, well, we're not staying here for long," Mizu said walking up to main counter.

"May I help you?" the man staffing the counter asked.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up an order," Mizu answered.

"Name?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at Rosa, his jaw clenching when he saw her.

"Ao Mizu."

The man immediately started giving her his full attention, "Oh, Miss Ao. I'll be right back." He then walked into the back room.

While they waited, one of the women working in the store walked up to the two of them, "Excuse me, Miss Ao, I believe we only have one dress on your order, could I help your, uh," she looked over at Rosa for a moment, "your friend?"

"No, thank you, we've already had this discussion," Mizu answered.

"You buy my Dust," Rosa said. "I think that's more than enough to have you pay for."

The woman nodded and walked off, but not before Mizu added, "And I think she'd prefer you address her directly down the road."

"I would actually," Rosa said as the man walked back into the room, holding a large white package, "even if I don't plan on returning."

"Thank you," Mizu said, grabbing the package from him. "Now, let's go," she said, turning to Rosa.

"My pleasure," she said, following the blue haired girl out. Outside she took a deep breath, "Soooo glad that's over."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Mizu said. "I wasn't sure if they would be the best around you, but that was a little more than I expected."

"It's alright," Rosa said as she started flagging down a cab.

"No, it's really not."

"You're right, it's not, but let's focus more on what we've got going on right now," Rosa replied as a taxi stopped by the two of them. Mizu nodded as they climbed in. "Lux Avenue," Rosa said to the driver, who nodded and started driving. "I think this is going to be the first time you've been to my house," she said to Mizu, an amused look appearing on her face.

"It is, although you've shown me a picture of your family before," Mizu nodded.

"Yeah, although that's an old picture," Rosa laughed. The car continued down the road closing in on the street Rosa had stated when it made a right turn onto a side road. Rosa leaned forward towards the driver, "Why are you taking the long way?"

"Road down the way is blocked, the White Fang are having a gathering outside a building down there, and it's clogging up the roads," the driver answered.

Rosa nodded leaning back. "I've heard plenty of stories about the White Fang, but what exactly are they?" Mizu asked.

"You probably haven't dealt with them because, unlike the Schnees, your family's maintained a good working relationship with their faunus workers. They're a group founded following the Faunus Rights Revolution forty-three years ago," Rosa said. "They promote equality through peaceful measures. It's had… mixed results, but it's certainly better than the violence the war brought about."

"Sounds noble," Mizu said, "but why did they choose a name like that? It doesn't seem like it would give the best impression."

"It comes from an old faunus folktale," Rosa said. "It was chosen because the main character returned to a peaceful state after having turned violent for a long period of time. The name was chosen as a way to try and demonstrate that they truly wished peace after the violence of the war. Although, yes it does give a bad impression at a glance."

Mizu nodded, "Have you ever participated in any of their gatherings?"

"A few times," Rosa admitted. "I guess I'm technically a member since my mother is, and my father was when he was alive," she shrugged, "I'm not completely sure what their policy is for minors."

Mizu nodded, "I'd be interested in seeing what a meeting is like."

"Tell you what, after we stop by my place, I'll take you to that meeting today. I mean, you're the one who said we have time after all."

Mizu nodded, "Sounds like a plan." The cab continued through the streets, soon arriving in an area full of older buildings. "This is where you live?" Mizu asked as they stepped out of the cab.

Rosa nodded, "Yeah, although despite how it looks at a glance, the houses are all fairly nice on the inside." Mizu nodded as Rosa paid the cabdriver and they set off down two side streets before Rosa arrived at a small intersection filled with several houses all facing inward. Walking up to the northernmost house, Rosa knocked on the door. A minute later, the door opened and a brown haired, cat eared woman opened the door.

"Rosa," she said happily, immediately hugging the girl.

"Hi mom," Rosa said, hugging her back.

Rosa's mother let go of her daughter and turned to face Mizu, "Is this a, uh, friend of yours from Beacon?"

"This is Mizu. We're partnered up until we graduate."

"It's nice to meet you," Rosa's mother said, extending her hand out to Mizu.

"Same here, Missus Demure," Mizu said, shaking her hand.

"Come on in, come on in," Rosa's mother said, walking inside, the two girls following closely behind, however, they were quickly stopped by a loud shout.

"Rosa!" a young black haired boy ran up and hugged her around the waist.

"Hi Buio," Rosa said happily, rubbing the boy's head between his ears. "How've you been?"

"I've been good," the boy said excited. "My friends are all jealous that you got into Beacon."

"Somehow I'm not surprised you've been bragging about that," Rosa said, prying her younger brother away from her.

"Yes, he won't stop, no matter how much I try and get him to," their mother said. "Your things are still in your closet like always." Rosa nodded and walked down the hallway towards her old room. "So, tell me about yourself, dear."

"Oh, uh," she heard Mizu begin to answer, "well, I guess for starters I'm not from here in Vale, I'm from Atlas." She didn't hear the rest of the conversation as she closed the door to her room behind her. The walls were a simple light blue color, with old posters covering a few parts of the walls. The worn carpet felt comforting beneath her feet, even through her boots. Walking over to her bed, she couldn't help but smile. Nothing she had was all that new, but they were filled with memories.

"So, are you girls going to stay for dinner?" Rosa's mother asked when Rosa walked back into the living room, holding a large box.

"If it's early we can," Rosa said. "We need to be back to Beacon by nightfall. Although, right now I'm going to show Mizu around a bit before we head back."

Rosa's mother nodded, "That's alright." She turned around a bit, and said, "Buio, leave that alone." The two girls walked out of the house and started down the street towards where the White Fang had been gathered.

"So, I'm guessing that you didn't tell her who you were," Rosa said, sounding amused.

"I'm guessing you're talking about your mother," Mizu said, her hands free, both of them having left their boxes in the house. "And no, I didn't, I figured that would get me into a long conversation I'd rather avoid right now. That's what happened when Vert found out."

"Yeah, then he asked you out a week later," Rosa reminded her.

"Trust me, I haven't forgotten," Mizu said.

"I know," Rosa laughed.

"Your mother's very nice though," Mizu said.

"She loves meeting my friends," Rosa smiled. "I'd love to bring Amber and Barty around sometime."

"We've got some time after our mission, that should work."

Rosa nodded as they turned a corner to see a large group of people gathered farther down the main road. "Come on, we'll only be able to stay for a few minutes." Mizu nodded as they continued their walk towards the gathered group. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but this wasn't it. The group was civil and relatively quiet. There was a constant murmur among the members as they talked with each other. Despite the vast majority of the people gathered being faunus, she was far from the only human there. "So why are you gathered here?" Rosa tapped on the back of a man nearby.

The man had a large and muscular frame that was intimidating looking, with short cut black hair and tattoos covering his left arm. "A store here refused service," he grunted before moving further into the group. They remained a little longer than they should have, but Mizu couldn't complain, she found herself enjoying the experience, and found the conversations she had with several of the members to be very interesting.

* * *

Amber stepped out of the dorm building, wearing a plain black dress and stretching her arms above her head. "Such a beautiful night."

"Just remember, we have a mission starting tomorrow," Oobleck stepped out in a dark grey suit.

"I know, Barty, I know. I had to take part in the preparations for it," Amber said dismissively. "Now come on, the dance awaits," she hooked her arm with him, and they set off across the campus towards the large hall where the dance was held. Inside, they found the hall was decorated extravagantly with balloons and ribbons. "This is lovely."

"I don't understand the reason for having it," Oobleck said, looking around. "There's nothing special going on beyond missions starting, and the older students have already started theirs."

"Oh, loosen up," Amber said, taking him out to the dance floor. "They're having a dance for the students that didn't get selected to go to Vacuo for the Vytal Festival, just relax and have fun."

"Dancing isn't really my idea of how to have fun."

"It's not really mine either, but I still wanted to come, and you didn't start protesting until just today. Now _relax_, we didn't come here on a date, so one dance is all I'm asking for. After that you can go about and spend the rest of your time however you want." Oobleck nodded, and they began dancing. "Although, I suspect Mizu might ask the same thing from her old friend," Amber teased a bit, causing Oobleck to nod a bit. They danced around slowly until the song ended. Walking towards a nearby table, Amber noticed Mizu and Rosa entering the hall.

Mizu was wearing a long strapless blue dress that reached down to her ankles with a pair of open toed heels which were all the same shade as her hair. Rosa was also wearing a plain dress, however hers was white instead of blue and only reached down to her knees. Additionally, it also reached up to her neck, and was paired with a pair of short white heels. "Don't get too comfortable yet," Amber said to Oobleck as they sat down. She motioned towards the entrance with her head before he even had to ask.

"Alright," Oobleck said, taking his seat after seeing the two newcomers.

"Let me guess, dateless. The both of you," Mizu said as she and Rosa walked over. Both Oobleck and Amber nodded. "Yeah, well, so are we. Come on, Barty, let's dance." When Oobleck stood up without complaint, Mizu laughed, "I think that's the first time you've ever accepted the offer without at least some protest. Accepted it was inevitable already, I guess," she laughed as she grabbed Oobleck by the arm and the two of them walked out onto the dance floor.

"So, are you finally going to tell us about the guy you're interested in?" Amber asked Rosa.

"No, not quite yet," Rosa said smiling.

"Why? Did he wind up having a date or are you just embarrassed about who it is?" Amber asked teasingly as she followed Oobleck and Mizu's movement across the dance floor.

"Neither," Rosa answered. "I'm not embarrassed, and I know she came dateless."

"Ah," Amber nodded for a moment before jerking her head to look at Rosa. "Wait, 'she'?"

Rosa smiled mischievously for a few moments before speaking up and sounding incredibly amused, "Yeah, there's a reason why I turned down all the boys asking me out."

Amber shook her head, "This is the second time I've had someone tell me their orientation while just casually talking."

Rosa laughed, "You're kidding."

"No, my older brother mentioned it while we were talking over dinner one day when our parents were out. He mentioned about how he'd forgotten how hard it was to flirt, and then just casually mentioned that he 'doesn't know how he feels about it', referring to the other guy."

Rosa laughed, "That's certainly a story. It's not something I hide, but it's also not something I just bring up in random conversation. I'm not even sure if my brother knows now that I think about it. My mother does though, sure gave her a shock when I told her."

"Does Mizu know?"

"No, not yet," Rosa admitted. "The only reason why I brought it up here was because the timing felt perfect."

Amber nodded slowly as a boy approached Rosa from behind, "Excuse me, may I have this dance?"

Rosa turned to face him as Amber felt herself smiling, "Perfect timing there."

"You may," Rosa said, surprising her team leader. Rosa stood and walked away with the boy who, Amber saw upon him turning around, had a wolf tail. Amber shook her head trying not to laugh as she looked back over towards Mizu and Oobleck who were dancing slowly while talking quickly to one another as they always did. Like Amber before her, Mizu returned to the table after the song ended. Oobleck, however, didn't join them, instead heading another direction.

"Rosa find someone to dance with?" Mizu asked as she took her partner's old seat.

"For now," Amber said, pointing over to the pink haired girl and her dance partner, who was more than a head taller than her.

"Just one dance or did she finally accept a date?" Mizu asked.

"I'm figuring it's going to just remain one dance."

"Why's that?" Mizu asked as Amber found where Oobleck had gone, the drink table.

"You'll find out," Amber said, something dawning on her.

"Oh, because that's not an annoying answer," Mizu rolled her eyes.

"It's Rosa's place to answer, not mine," Amber said, looking back towards Rosa and smiling.

"What?" Mizu asked, confused by Amber's sudden change in attitude.

"I think you'll find out very soon," Amber said, as a boy walked over.

"May I have this dance?"

"You may," Amber took his hand. "Ask Rosa about it when she gets back," Amber said before walking away. Mizu nodded still feeling confused.

"Thank you," Mizu said, accepting the drink Oobleck had brought her. "So, how are you enjoying the night, Barty?"

"I'm enjoying myself more than I thought I would," he admitted.

"See, I knew you would, I told you as much," Mizu said, smiling broadly. "That's also why I told you to ask someone to come with you." Oobleck nodded and took a drink from his cup. "Come on, there has be some girl who's attracted your interest." Oobleck didn't say anything further. "Okay, silence isn't like you. You really don't want to talk about this right now do you?"

"No, not currently," Oobleck bowed his head slightly. Mizu nodded, and they sat there for several minutes just watching as Amber and Rosa danced with their respective partners. Mizu stood and walked to refill her drink, passing Amber on her way back, who she saw give a wink to someone behind her.

Walking back up to Oobleck, she asked, "So, how about another dance?"

"No," Oobleck shook his head. "I'm fine just sitting here and relaxing for a while."

"And now you're just being no fun," Mizu complained as she set down her drink.

"If he says no, then may I have this dance instead?" Mizu turned around to see Rosa smiling widely.

"You know what, sure," Mizu said, taking Rosa's hand. "How's your night been so far?"

"It's been great," Rosa said as they started dancing slowly. "Peaceful night, no stress, ignoring our mission tomorrow at least, nice music, great dance partner."

"Was that guy you were dancing with earlier the one who caught your eye?" Mizu asked, thinking back to their conversation earlier in the week.

"No," Rosa said, smiling wider.

"Oh really? Are you finally willing to tell me who it is, then?"

Rosa laughed, "I was just talking with Amber about this after you walked off with Barty."

"And did you tell her?" Mizu asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I gave her some info."

"Really? Okay then..." Mizu said, pausing to think. "Okay, if you don't want to just outright say it, describe him."

"Alright. Let's see," Rosa felt her heart beginning to beat faster, "the person who's caught my eye iiis... funny, intelligent," she let out a short laugh as her face started to turn red, "albeit a little air headed sometimes. Although, also persistent and passionate."

Mizu nodded, "Sounds like a winner to me so far." Rosa kept quiet for a moment and bit her bottom lip. "You're really this nervous about talking about him? Come on, you haven't acted like that, when it's just the two of us talking at least, in months."

Rosa nodded slowly before continuing on, "Alright, alright, let's see what else? Oh, caring and selfless despite being a little naive on some subjects. And," Rosa paused, her heart pounding in her chest, "and is currently dancing with... " she took a deep breath, looking Mizu in the eye, "is currently dancing with me."

Mizu's smile faltered, "Wh-what?" She sounded confused, not fully realizing what Rosa said.

"It's, uh, it's you, Mizu," Rosa said, taking another deep breath. "It's you that's caught my eye."

"Rosa… I" Mizu shook her head, her hands falling away from her partner as she tried to process the info. "I-I don't know what to say to that…"

"I'm… I'm not surprised," Rosa admitted, sounding somber. She let go of Mizu as well and began walking away.

"No, wait," Mizu said trying to grab Rosa's arm. Rosa, however, continued walking while Mizu remained frozen in place from shock for a few more moments. "Rosa!" she called, beginning to move through the crowd after her partner. Rosa paused and turned back for a moment, before changing course towards the stairs as opposed to the nearest exit. Mizu moved through the crowd as quickly as she could, trying to catch up to her.

"Hey, what's going on?" Amber asked as Mizu passed by. Mizu didn't say anything and just shook her head as she continued on her way. She quickly reached the stairs and ran up them as fast as she could with her heels restraining her. She hadn't seen where Rosa had gone after climbing the stairs, and moved to check the door immediately in front of her. It opened up to an empty balcony, the first door on the right side revealed another balcony, although this one occupied by a boy and a girl kissing.

"Sorry," Mizu said quickly as she closed the door again, wishing that she'd seen nearly anything else after what had just happened. She moved from door to door, down the way until she got to the double doors opposite the staircases and directly over the main entrance. Opening the doorway, she found Rosa standing out staring at the moon, appearing unbroken from the way it was facing Remnant. "Rosa I did-"

"I shouldn't have said anything," Rosa said, her voice sounding empty.

"No, no, you were right to say it," Mizu tried to say reassuringly, but her voice came out low and barely audible, even to Rosa. "Rosa, I wasn't disgusted or angry, I was just… surprised."

Rosa shook her head, "Who was I kidding, huh? You're very high in the upper class, a girl, and human. I'm barely considered middle class, a girl, and a faunus. I was just..." she stopped talking, and started rubbing her throat, her old injury acting up. Mizu took the time to walk up next to her to see tears running down her cheeks, some having been there long enough to have dried already.

"Don't say anything else," Mizu shook her head knowing Rosa would be fine and taking advantage of her silence, "Rosa…I don't care if you're a faunus, and I don't care that you're far poorer than I am. If I did I wouldn't be friends with you, and with us both being girls," she shook her head again, trying to figure things out, "I… I… I need to think about it."

Rosa looked at Mizu, tears still in her eyes, "Mizu…" her voice was a little off as it always was after her throat acted up.

Mizu put her finger on Rosa's lips and shook her head. "Don't. I need time to think, but regardless, we're still partners. So, tomorrow, when we're out on the mission, when we fight together, we still have each other's backs, okay." Rosa nodded and smiled a little. "Okay, so let's go, I still owe you the rest of that dance." Rosa nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.

* * *

"Now, I know many of you are disappointed that you could not travel to Vacuo to participate in the Vytal Festival," Ozpin said, speaking to the gathered students before they selected and began their missions. "This occurs every two years, and every time there are students who cannot travel and partake in the events. However, while you cannot travel and experience this event, you can help make Vale a better city as your predecessors have done every year prior to this. However, before you go, I wish for you to have this on your mind While your classmates may not be here at this moment, they are still with us in spirit, just as the four Kingdoms remain together despite their vast differences, and that they will continue on together, for together we all are capable of far more than when we are apart and stand against one another. It is a lesson that I feel everyone should learn as early on in their lives as possible, but I am afraid it appears that each year, there remain many who have yet to learn it by the times they enter these halls," he paused for a moment. "Now, the boards behind you list the available missions. To select a mission, merely enter your team name."

"Well that was... short," Amber said turning to her team. "Any mission suggestions?"

"Something that will take us to a historical site!" Oobleck said quickly. Amber nodded and looked over at Rosa and Mizu.

"Uh, historical, sure," Rosa said, sounding distracted. Mizu nodded, looking into the distance. Amber scrunched her eyebrows but nodded and walked down and past many of the boards, looking for locations, letting Rosa check on them. They moved through maybe a dozen or so boards before she came across something that would work.

"Mountain Glenn," Amber said reading the location name.

"Yeah," Rosa said, still sounding distracted. "That works. It's, uh, it's a town far out to the, uh, to the southwest outside the walls. It's not old, but it's certainly historical for other reasons. It was built, uh, it was originally built maybe thirty seven years ago now, by Vale itself... It's well known around city, Grimm attacks made the citizens move and start building underground. It's connected by… by a subway near the southern wall."

"Are you alright?" Amber asked, feeling increasingly concerned the more Rosa spoke.

"Yeah, yeah," Rosa said, not sounding very convincing. "Just… a lot on my mind." Amber nodded slowly, and looked over at Oobleck who'd been checking on Mizu. He nodded, his face saying there was definitely something wrong.

"Okay," Amber said, turning to the board and entering the team name. "Search and Destroy, let's go." They then made their way out of the auditorium, through the entrance courtyard, and finally stopped at the airship docks at the very edge of campus. Numerous smaller airships were ready to take students out of the city and into the surrounding areas, while a larger main ship was ready to take multiple teams into the city. "We need to report… here," Amber said, leading them to a marked spot outside the large airship.

"Ah, wonderful," a familiar voice came from behind them after a few minutes. "Looks like we've a fine team ready to help the people of Mountain Glenn." The team turned to see Professor Port holding his weapon over his shoulder. He lead the four students aboard the airship, and they waited in silence as other teams and Huntsmen boarded around them. No one spoke even as the airship made its way into Vale, nor after it touched down. They just followed Port's lead into a Beacon truck they used to quickly cross the city to reach a large subway station not too far from the southern wall. Making their way inside the station, the four students were immediately presented with a large flight of stairs that took them down several stories underground. At the base of the stairs they followed Port past a decent sized line and, upon showing their identifications, were allowed directly onto a large train. A few minutes after boarding, the train took off, and almost immediately they felt it go on a gradual decline as it traveled down the pathway. "Interestingly," Port said, "despite our heading downhill right now, there are parts where the roof is actually open to the air above it on the way to Mountain Glenn." The team nodded, Amber and Oobleck worried about Rosa and Mizu, who were otherwise distracted.

Upon arriving at the other station, Port lead the team out of the station, and all of them stared in awe of the immense underground chamber. Large buildings reached upwards, many of them touching, and probably supporting, the very high ceiling above them. "Mountain Glenn is the world's largest subterranean city and, to get an appreciation of this fact, today I will allow the four of you to travel through it freely on your own. You will merely need to meet me here at seven tonight." The team nodded, and immediately went two separate directions, Oobleck dragging Mizu, and Amber dragging Rosa.

"So, have you ever been to Mountain Glenn before?" Amber asked after the two of them wandered around a bit for several minutes.

"No," Rosa said, trying to keep her mind on what she was doing. "My father worked here and would travel back and forth with Vale, and my mother's been here a few times in the past, but I myself, I've never been here before."

"Okay," Amber said, looking around at the various building fronts trying to figure out something else to say before quickly abandoning the idea. "So, I'm guessing things didn't go well with Mizu last night. Did she," Amber paused not sure how to phrase it.

"N-well first off I want to say about how I'm impressed with how quickly you figured out that it was Mizu," Rosa said, "but, anyway she, uh, she didn't reject me. At least, not yet," Rosa looked at the ground, her tone quickly turning somber.

"What do you mean by 'not yet'?" Amber's voice was kind and warm.

"She said," Rosa took a deep, unsteady breath, "she said that she would have to 'think about it'. I've heard that before, and it's _always_ been a way to delay saying no. I want, I really do want, to believe that this time will be different, but," she shook her head, "I just can't convince myself about that."

Amber pulled Rosa into a hug, "Don't sell yourself short. We both know Mizu well enough to know that if she told you that she has to think about it, she's thinking about it as hard as she can."

Rosa began to tear up again in Amber's arms, "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" Amber asked. "All I did was tell you what you already knew."

"Yes, but I needed to hear it from someone else to get it through my head."

Several streets over Oobleck and Mizu were stopped in a small restaurant. After the waiter took their order, Oobleck looked directly at Mizu, who was still looking off into the distance out of the restaurant's front window. "Mizu." He didn't get a response, prompting him to place his hand over Mizu's that were resting on the table between them. "Mizu," she jumped and looked at him, before looking down.

"I'm sorry," she whispered under breath.

Oobleck opted to skip any pretense and get straight to the point. "What happened last night?" Oobleck asked in his own kind tone. "You've been distracted since you got back to the room last night, you and Rosa both. Clearly something happened between you."

Mizu nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah, um…" She shook her head trying to figure out how to say it. "She, uh, she told me that she… that she liked me."

"I'm guessing that means as not just a friend or partner."

Mizu nodded again.

"And you've been stressing about it..."

"Well, yeah, but..." Mizu stopped, and looked at him. "Okay, I know where you're going with this, and I'm just stressed, nothing more."

Oobleck nodded, "Alright, then what has been going on?"

Mizu took a deep breath and began speaking quickly enough to give Oobleck a run for his money, "I've… I've been thinking about it nonstop since then, just trying to figure it out. I wish, I really do wish, that I just knew how I felt about her. At times I think I do like her back, but at others I'm just like 'no, she's just a friend', then the first part comes back, then the second, and it's just this big conflict going on in my head that I just wish I could figure out," her voice choked as she looked back up, tears appearing in her eyes. "And I wasn't able to sleep last night, and the entire time, Rosa's just waiting for an answer, probably thinking I'm just leading her on."

"Mizu…"

"And I'm probably going to figure it out and she's just going to hate me for messing with her."

"Mizu!" Oobleck repeated louder. "Rosa's not going to hate you," he was speaking unusually slowly, especially compared to how he went on normally. "She cares about you. And regardless of whether you figure that you care about her as either a friend or more. In the end you'll still care about her as well, and I think she'll wind up happy with either choice because of that. You've always been someone who knows exactly what she wants, so, the fact that you're so hung up on this, is proof to me of just how much you care, and I'm sure Rosa will take it the same way."

The tears started flowing uncontrollably down Mizu's face, "Thank you, Barty. Really." Oobleck nodded. The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon together, talking and laughing as they always had back in Atlas, while Rosa and Amber walked through a different part of the town, talking and laughing amongst themselves as well. And, as seven approached, the two groups converged outside the train station to meet up with their teacher.

"What do you think?" Oobleck whispered to Amber, pulling her aside after they reconvened.

"I think," Amber started to whisper back as she saw Rosa and Mizu smile weakly at each other before beginning to talk, "I think that regardless of what happens, they'll be alright."

"I hope so," Oobleck said as Port walked up to the group. "But there's something we need to discuss later."

"Ah, wonderful, wonderful, you're here on time," he said happily. "Come with me, I have our hotel rooms ready." He set off down a major road with the team walking behind him. "Tomorrow, we set off at nine to head above ground," he pointed towards the largest of the central buildings in the city, "through the main elevator shaft. It's very rarely used since the city moved underground fifteen years ago, but it's still maintained for whenever Huntsmen and Huntresses come to the area. I'd recommend you set alarms for seven at the latest to make sure you all have time to wake up and eat before we head out. Also," he paused and turned to the team, "after we leave, we won't return for several days. It'll just be us, and the Grimm!" Everyone nodded in understanding, "Perfect." He turned back around and lead them on to the hotel. "Here we are," he paused just outside of it and pulled out several room card keys. "Now, the rooms only have two beds each, so Amber, Bartholomew," he handed them their cards, "you are in one room, and Mizu and Rosa," he handed them their cards," will have the other. Remember, tomorrow at nine."

He walked inside as the teammates looked at each other. "Are you two going to be alright?" Amber asked, looking between Rosa and Mizu.

"Yeah, we will," Rosa said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself.

"We, uh, we have to be," Mizu said. Amber and Oobleck glanced at each, and nodded slowly before the team made their way inside. Their rooms were several floors up and the elevator ride happened in silence. After stepping out, they moved to their rooms, Amber and Oobleck's being across the hall from Rosa and Mizu's. Inside their room, Rosa and Mizu talked on and off before sitting in silence for nearly an hour. "I'm… I'm going to go take a shower," Mizu said, standing up. Rosa nodded, unsure of anything to say as Mizu entered the bathroom. Instead just lay down on her bed, rubbing her head.

"Two days ago," she said to herself. "Two days ago, I was happy with everything that was going on in my life." She sighed and continued to rub her head, trying to stave off the headache she'd developed the previous night and had been threatening to return all day. After a minute, a loud striking sound came from the bathroom. "Mizu?"

"I'm… I'm alright, I just hit my head against the wall," Mizu answered back, the sound of the water stopping.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah… I, uh, I did it intentionally…" a loud slamming sound came as the sound of running water returned.

"Why?" Rosa asked. Mizu grunted, her head still pressed against the wall of the shower.

"Because," she muttered to herself, "I'm trying to clear it." She leaned back, the water draining in the bathtub after she'd let it fall back after having held it up herself.

"What did you say?"

"I'll tell you when I'm out," Mizu slapped her face. "Get a hold of yourself," she muttered, "You told Rosa to try and keep calm about it and not worry, and yet, you can't even keep yourself from worrying." She stood there for several minutes letting the water strike her back while Rosa was sitting back up on the edge of her bed, both feeling confused and concerned. A few minutes later, Mizu stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still soaking wet. She walked over to the table against the wall of the room and sat down in the chair. She rubbed her hands on her face for a few moments. "Rosa…"

Rosa looked over at her, "Are you going to tell me why you hit your head against the wall?"

Mizu took a deep breath to steady herself and nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah, just, come over here." Rosa nodded, and walked over to the table and sat in a second chair she had grabbed along the way. She leaned forward, waiting for Mizu to say something, anything. Mizu, however, just leaned forward as well, an expression on her face that was worrying.

"You don't have to say anything," Rosa said quietly after a bit, "I kn-" she was cut off by Mizu suddenly kissing her. She remained still for several moments from shock, which was quickly replaced with a warm feeling throughout her body as it struck her that she wasn't dreaming. This was real, and it felt extremely pleasurable. Rosa returned the kiss enthusiastically and they remained together for several minutes before breaking apart. "Should I take that to mean we're together now?" She felt herself smiling broader than she had in a long time.

Mizu had a large goofy smile on her face, "Yes, yes you should." She felt happy and excited, but also felt the exhaustion from lack of sleep start to wash over her in full force.

"What made you figure it out?" Rosa asked, still feeling excited.

"Honestly," Mizu scratched the back of her head, "it was the kiss."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Mizu averted her gaze for a moment before looking back at Rosa, "I, uh, I knew that after the last twenty four hours, that if I didn't figure things out, I'd, uh, I'd probably not get that much sleep tonight and I'd be a liability tomorrow, so I… I kissed you to see how it felt."

"Oh," Rosa said in surprise, "Well," she let out a short laugh, "I'm, uh, I'm glad you didn't kiss me to realize you didn't want to be a couple."

"Trust me," Mizu said, smiling even more broadly, "so am I. Trying to force myself to decide on whether or not to go through with the idea was why I hit my head against the wall."

"I figured it was probably something related to us, but I didn't think it was that," Rosa shook her head.

"Yeah, yeah," Mizu said, sounding tired. "I, uh, I didn't sleep last night, so, can we return to this in the morning?"

Rosa nodded, "Absolutely." Mizu nodded and walked over to her bed and plopped down on it face first, and by the time Rosa had reached the door to the bathroom, she was fast asleep.

* * *

"Good morning," Amber said, seeing Rosa and Mizu walking towards her and Oobleck in the hotel's cafeteria. "You two look happy," she noted, seeing the grins on both their faces. Oobleck smiling broadly next to her. "And," she looked between the two girls, "since you're holding hands, I'm guessing you're a thing now."

"Very perceptive," Mizu said, sounding as happy as she looked.

"I am, thank you for noticing," Amber said, turning back towards her food. "Hurry up, we leave in an hour. And," she glanced back at the new couple, "when we get back to Beacon, I'm laying down some ground rules for the room."

"Wow," Rosa said, picking up a plate, "We weren't even doing anything last night besides sleeping. But thanks for the consideration." After breakfast the four of them met Port outside the building, and, without a word, he immediately lead them to the tallest building in town and went inside.

"You the Beacon group?" a man staffing the building asked.

"Correct," Port said. The man nodded and lead them to a staff elevator, and selected the top floor. Port turned to the team, "The main elevator does not go all the way to the top floor, only the staff elevator goes that high to prevent random people from accidentally opening up to the surface."

"Is it really all that dangerous?" Amber asked.

Rosa was the one to answer, "Above ground, Mountain Glenn doesn't have any natural barriers, or at least no where close to what Vale has. The entire reason the city moved below ground was because of the constant Grimm assaults. They overwhelmed the Huntsmen that where were trying to protect it."

"Very good, Miss Demure," Port said. "I actually had the honor of meeting your father during his time working here."

"Your father was a Huntsmen?" Oobleck asked.

Rosa shook her head, "No, he served in the military, he helped staff the base on the edge of town before it moved underground." Preempting the next question, she clarified, "That's not how he died, that didn't happen until years after he retired. I hadn't even been born yet when he did retire."

Port nodded as the doors opened on the elevator. They found themselves in a large open room filled with equipment and a second, large, elevator. "This is how we get to the surface."

"How?" Oobleck asked, looking around.

"You'll see," Port said, leading the team into the elevator. Once inside, they heard what sounded like large slabs moving before the elevator began ascending. After the elevator came to a stop, the team stepped out, and as Port left he pressed the down button. As soon as he was out of the elevator, it descended back into the ground, and two large slabs of stone closed back up overtop of the shaft.

"I guess it pays to be secure," Mizu said.

"It does indeed," Port said, leading the team out of the building they were in. Outside they found themselves surrounded by crumbling buildings whose architectural designs were identical to those below ground. Every building was in a serious case of disrepair and many were no longer standing at all.

"How does the ground support all these buildings when there's a large open chamber below it?" Amber asked.

"My guess would be the buildings in that chamber," Oobleck said. "So, what are we to do?"

"Explore," Port said. "Don't wander off too far from one another, but today we travel through the remains of the old city itself." The team nodded and walked off throughout the city. Rosa and Mizu traveled south, Amber went north, and Oobleck headed east. "So, Bartholomew," Port said, walking up behind him after he had finished off a small number of young Grimm, "why did you decide to be a Huntsman?"

"What do you mean?" Oobleck asked.

"Exactly what I asked," Port said. "You're unlike most students who even try to apply, much less get accepted to Beacon, so why did you?

"Well," Oobleck looked at the ground, unsure. "I suppose I'm still not completely sure."

"You decided to become a Huntsman even though you don't know why you wanted to?" Port asked, surprised.

"No, not quite," Oobleck said, storing his weapon. "Growing up, my best friend was, and still is, an heiress to the largest weapons producers in all of Remnant."

"Mizu," Port said.

"Yes, being around that, the environment it puts you in, you hear a lot about how their weapons can be used to save many lives by the military that they staffed, and I, learning to fight alongside her, I was told that my skills would do the same," he shrugged. "Something about that never made complete sense to me. I understand how the weapons, and our skills with them, can be used to kill those that would harm the people, but there was always this, this thought that continually came back to me that there must be more to it than just that." He looked over at Port, "I suppose that if I had to say why I want to be a Huntsmen, it's because I've heard that they use more than just their weapons to fight, and I'm looking for the answer to my question."

Port nodded, "And what, would you say is this question?"

"If I had to try and put it into words," he shook his head. "I know there's more than just brute force and weaponry that can be used to protect people in many situations. I want to learn what else can be used in those situations, especially before the weapons start failing as they did protecting these ruins."

Port smiled, "I'm sure you'll find your answer, I found mine during my days as a student. Make sure you return to the central building by nightfall." Oobleck nodded, and Port walked off. As night fell, Oobleck reported back as instructed. "Ah, Bartholomew, there you are," Port said, greeting him. "Now we can move. From here we're heading north, to the edge of the city. We'll make camp in one of the buildings, and tomorrow we move into the forest surrounding the area." The team nodded and began walking, encountering few Grimm as they traveled through.

"So," Amber asked, as Port had fallen asleep with Oobleck taking first watch, "how was your first day as a couple?"

"Eventful," Mizu said, looking up at Amber while lying on her back.

"I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to tell my mother we're a couple, because I told her just Sunday afternoon that we weren't," Rosa said, rolling onto her side.

"What about you, Mizu?" Amber asked. "Have you figured out how you're going to tell your family?"

"I have," Mizu said. "I'm not. Same sex relationships in Atlas may not have a very negative connotation anymore, but it's still a scandal when someone well known is revealed to be in one, especially when said person is known, for a fact, to have been in a 'normal' relationship before. The common belief going around right now is that bisexuals don't exist," she let out a short laugh. "Honestly, before Sunday, I never considered the possibility for myself to be one."

"I was actually expecting you to go on about it being a human-faunus relationship," Amber said.

"Oh, yeah that," Mizu paused, shaking her head a little, "that's an even larger problem. human-faunus relationships are still a huge taboo. I think marriages were only legalized last year in Atlas. Considering I'm now in a relationship that qualifies as both these things, if it came out, I'm pretty sure the Atlas media would explode. Especially considering that would also reveal that I've been attending Beacon."

Amber was speechless, causing Rosa to speak up, "So, yeah, it's a complicated situation on that end."

"I-I can see that," Amber said, shaking her head. "So, you're just going to leave your family in the dark?"

"Not forever, no," Mizu said, looking at the ceiling. "But for the time being, yes, I will."

Rosa's scroll let off a low whine, "Looks like it's my turn to take watch," she said, disabling the alarm.

Mizu nodded, "We should probably make sure we get enough sleep."

* * *

"Rise and shine," Port's voice boomed through the building, startling all four teammates, even Amber who was taking the last watch. "Now we move out into the forest for the day and night. Tomorrow we return to the ruins and back into Mountain Glenn itself." A general grumble came from Rosa, Mizu, and Oobleck who were picking themselves up off the ground while Amber walked straight to their teacher. "Let's go," he walked outside and lead the team into the forest.

"So, Professor, why are we heading into the forest?" Rosa asked.

"To see for ourselves why Mountain Glenn was doomed to fail from the start," Port said as they walked through a damaged fence and out into a large forest. The terrain around the ruins of the original Mountain Glenn was somewhat mountainous, with the city situated in a small valley between them, as befitting its name. "As you can see with your own eyes, the area around the city was chosen because the mountains were believed to provide a natural barrier against many types of land dwelling Grimm, and indeed, this is true. However," he fired a shot in between several trees, the distinctive cry of a wounded Beowolf calling out from where the shot landed, "the large forest provided just the opposite, a haven for the Grimm already inhabiting this area."

"So, the Grimm were hard to track down within the forest, and if they were attacked, they could quickly escape," Oobleck said looking around.

"Exactly," Port said, walking towards the Grimm he had shot. "The escaping Grimm would leave the inhabitants scared and paranoid, which would only attract more Grimm to the area. While only the young weak Grimm would attack for a long time, the older Grimm built up their numbers out of sight of most Huntsmen. Eventually the number of Grimm that were attracted to the area reached the point where they felt comfortable enough to attack a large population. The first few times, they were fended off, so they waited and came back with even larger numbers until they finally devastated the city to the point that they moved underground because those remaining no longer felt safe."

"I'm sorry, but, professor, it sounds like you're saying that the Grimm can think," Rosa said.

"While it's true that most Grimm cannot, the oldest and most powerful Grimm's main asset is not their brute power nor their size, for the first will eventually plateau out and the second can even be a hindrance for some. No, the eldest Grimm's main strength is that after their strength stops growing, their minds do in their place. After great periods of time they cease to be mindless killing machines that act on their own or only in small groups. No, they begin to use their newfound minds to coordinate, plan, and even retreat when things turn against them even before they've suffered major losses. Some may even decide not to attack at all if they do not feel it would be worth it. There are even some who have turned passive against large civilizations because they have learned that attacking them will only bring on their own death to the hands of the survivors." Shivers ran down the spines of everyone present as they arrived at the now decaying Grimm. "However, their passive nature only lasts until they feel they can secure a total victory. It was these ancient, intelligent Grimm who were believed to be the ones that caused the end of the original Mountain Glenn."

"So," Amber said, "if they are so powerful and intelligent, how do we best them?"

"How would you think?" Port turned to her a quick examination of the Grimm. "As team leader, how would you believe that we would do so?"

"Well, superior numbers wouldn't work against someone smart enough to counter them unless we sacrificed entire armies, and weapons become less and less effective as they grow larger. So, I would guess, we make sure we're the ones outsmarting them to the very end."

"Very good, that is part of how we decide who leads the teams," Port said, turning to lead them further into the forest. "As teachers, we try and instil creative and strategic thinking in all our students, but those who exhibit the most of those skills upon entry, they are the ones chosen to lead while their peers learn," a small smile crossed Amber's lips. "It was because of those creative thinkers and strategists that Mountain Glenn was not a total loss, and has managed to survive underground." Amber nodded slowly, however Oobleck seemed to be completely enthralled in Port's mini lecture. "Now, keep your weapons at the ready, there's no telling when the Grimm may strike against a small group such as ours." Mizu fetched her carbine from her back, and set her finger so that she could quickly move it onto the trigger at the first sign of danger. Oobleck fetched the small rod hanging off his pants leg, and expanded it into a torch. Amber grabbed the handles of her daggers, and quickly pulled them out revealing green blades. Rosa moved her left hand over her right glove and formed the blade over her arm. "Very good, now let's set off."

They explored the various trails in the forest north of the city, many of which showed damage from previous battles, and afterwards, they moved east and started wrapping around the town, eventually finding a heavily damaged area that looked as though it had been a clearing even before the fighting had started in the past. "This is believed to be where the first attack on the city originated, and the location where the fighting for said fight ended. Unlike most attacks, every Grimm that attacked was killed, and lead to many of the city's protectors believing it was safer than it truly was."

"It's so… burned," Rosa said, looking around.

"Yes," Port said, walking around the area. "This place was destroyed in the fight to make sure the Grimm couldn't escape. Now, there are two paths leading from here. One heading farther out into the forest, and another continuing around the city. Bartholomew, Amber, take the path leading away from the city. Rosa, Mizu, you will take the path leading around the outside of town. After an hour, start to return here, and I wish to hear what you have learned from what you've seen."

Amber and Oobleck nodded and headed out down their own path. The pathway was well worn, but it clearly wasn't done by people. Trees still had claw marks, some of them appearing fresh, but most were clearly ancient. However as they continued on the path, there were an ever increasing number of fresh claw marks. Both of them readied their weapons as they moved onwards and found a horde of Boarbatusks. As soon as they stepped out into the small clearing where the Grimm where, the beasts immediately began to attack. The first Boarbatusk struck out towards Oobleck, who swatted it away with his torch towards Amber who quickly impaled it with her dual daggers. Two more came rolling towards her as she was finishing the deed, however she quickly jumped out of the way. Missing their target, the two Grimm continued onward until they slammed into a tree, at which point Oobleck dealt two finishing blows in quick succession against them.

Amber then took to the offensive and swung the twin daggers through the air, the blades producing pulses of wind as they moved. The pulses both knocking the Grimm around, as well as harming them if they struck flesh instead of armor, easily cutting into their skin. Oobleck added the fire from his torch to the mix, producing a large, controlled inferno that burned swaths of Grimm at a time. Several more of them started rolling towards the two of them to attack in a formation vaguely resembling a phalanx. While Oobleck quickly dodged out of the way, the ones attacking Amber missed her by a decent margin, and even turned to continue attacking the open air. Taking advantage of this, Amber stuck her daggers into their holsters and pressed a button on each holster several times before removing the blades, revealing black blades.

Using the new blades, Amber struck the ground near the spinning Boarbatusks, large spikes of stone erupting from the ground, directly out of where blades struck, and into the first Grimm. Pulling the daggers out of the ground, she swiped one of the blades through the air, producing a large stone projectile that flew at the second one, knocking it off balance and allowing her to move in for the kill. On the other end of the clearing, Oobleck was using his incredible speed to quickly avoid incoming strikes and strike down the Boarbatusks as they tried turning around. "Down now!" Amber shouted. Oobleck immediately ducked as several stone projectiles flew over his body and struck down an Ursa that had come to join the fight. "Now to your left!" she called out, allowing Oobleck to strike and quickly take down a second Ursa that had been trying to help the first.

"Thanks," Oobleck said, standing back up.

"Hey, what are partners for?" Amber said, storing her daggers for a moment and switching back to the green blades.

Oobleck smiled while pulling out his scroll to check their Aura levels. "Ours are full, no surprise there, and so are Rosa and Mizu's."

"That's good, now, it's been close to an hour, I say we head back." Amber said turning around. Oobleck nodded, and the two of them set off back along the path they'd taken the first time and eventually found themselves back in the burnt clearing where Port was sitting. "You didn't deal with any Grimm while we were gone Professor?"

"Oh, no I dealt with Grimm."

Amber nodded, and walked over to him to wait for Rosa and Mizu to get back when she saw a large hole in the ground with a Boarbatusk trapped inside. "Oh, you put.. you p- what!?" Amber struggled to speak seeing the absurd sight.

"You trapped it in a hole?" Oobleck asked, unsure of what else to say.

Port nodded, "Yes, it prevents it from escaping until I can come back to capture it in a cage for an upcoming lesson."

"This is weird," Amber said, shaking her head, "Do you have a name for it too?"

"Actually yes," Port said, slightly unnerving both of them. "I like to name them Gerad."

"Them? As in more than one?" Oobleck asked.

"Yes, oftentimes they don't survive my lessons, so I often have to replace them."

"But, why Gerad?" Amber asked, pulling her scroll out.

Port shrugged, "I just feel there aren't enough Gerads in this world anymore, it used to be a fairly popular name."

"Oh no," Amber sounded scared as she stared at her scroll. "We need to go, Rosa's Aura is getting low, and Mizu's isn't all that much higher." Port immediately jumped to his feat, readying his weapon. The three of them quickly ran down the path and almost immediately came across the signs of a battle, but no dissolving Grimm corpses. "No, no, no," Amber said, running ahead of the others and came across the two of them fighting a Goliath around three times their size, nearing the height of some of the forrest's smaller trees.

"Rosa!" Mizu called out as the Goliath struck out, catching her with it's horn.

"Her Aura's critical," Oobleck said, running up behind Amber with his scroll out alongside Port. "It'll start failing to prevent wounds soon if it hasn't already, she was already weak before that hit."

"Yeah, I gathered that," Amber said as they hurried towards the fight. Rosa struggled to stand back up, and Mizu jumped between her and the Goliath, parrying its next attack with her staff. Getting closer, the three newcomers noticed that the Goliath was already heavily wounded, and was more than likely on its last legs. An observation that was quickly proven correct as, while Oobleck was preparing to speed up to aid her, Mizu quickly changed her grip on her staff while water swirled around the end of the weapon pointed at the large Grimm. In the next instant, she shoved it into the underside of the beast's head, penetrating it's skull, causing it to fall to the ground dead. With that, Mizu also fell to the ground, tired.

"How're you doing?" Mizu asked, looking over at where Rosa was sitting, her hands over her left cheek.

"I'll be fine," Rosa answered, removing her hand, revealing a long gash on her cheek that was oozing blood. "It's just a flesh wound." Mizu wiped the blood off the other girl's cheek smiling tiredly.

"A Goliath, truly an incredible sight," Port said as he, Amber, and Oobleck walked up to the two tired girls. "You should be proud to have taken out one of these beasts." He knelt down to examine Rosa. "Is this your only injury?"

"Yes."

"Then you're extremely fortunate, Goliaths half this one's size have been known to kill larger groups of more experienced Huntresses, and most of them in this area dwarf not only this one, but even the largest trees in this forest. You may wind up with some scarring, but that's it." Rosa nodded, before standing back up slowly. Port then walked over to begin examining the dead Goliath.

"How long were you fighting this thing?" Oobleck asked.

"Twenty minutes," Mizu asked, shaking her head. "It managed to get the drop on us while we were dealing with other Grimm. Despite how big it is, it's pretty quiet compared to the sounds of combat. Thanks for helping by the way."

"By the time I knew where you were to speed up to help, you were finishing it," Oobleck." Mizu nodded, slowly.

"Right now I'm just wishing that our scrolls would give off an alarm when we ran low on Aura," Rosa said, wiping more blood from her wound.

"There are actually people working on that," Oobleck said. "Although the alarms keep going off whenever people dismiss their Aura after the end of battle. The scanning system apparently can't tell the difference between an Aura that's weakening and one that's not being made use of."

"Okay, then I wish that our Aura reading tech was more advanced," Rosa said, standing back up, only to begin leaning on a nearby tree. Oobleck nodded and went off to join Port, who was examining the dead Goliath.

"You two are incredible, you know that?" Amber said, shaking her head.

"Of course we are, just ask Barty, I saved his life when we were younger," Mizu said cheerfully.

"Wait, you did?" Amber looked at her curiously. Rosa nodded, having heard the story before.

"Yeah," Mizu said. "In Atlas, my name goes for a lot, so when we were around seven a guy tried kidnapping me. In the process Barty got stabbed in the gut. I didn't even know what blood was at the time, I just knew that it shouldn't be coming out of him and it should stay inside him, so I applied pressure to the area. According to the paramedics that took him to the hospital afterward, had I not been doing that, he would have died."

"That's a story I'm amazed neither of you have mentioned before," Amber said.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing when she told me last week," Rosa shook her head, looking over at her partner. She felt herself smile, not just her partner, her girlfriend.

"Yeah, well it's not something either of us like talking about," Mizu shrugged.

Amber just shook her head again, and pulled out her scroll. "I'm just going to take a picture of that Grimm right now for scale reference for how large it is when we get back to Beacon."

"Hey," Mizu said, jumping in front of Amber's view, "If you're going to take a picture of the prey, take a picture of the Huntress too. Especially since I just found a way to manipulate my water into a decent blade without needing to change it to ice first."

"I'm not staying out of this," Rosa said, moving over to, and putting her arm around, Mizu and pulled her close to her right side, "I played a large part in this too. After all, I provided you with the water, _and_ I suggested you try that out during your Aura lessons last week." Mizu smiled broadly and put her arm around Rosa as well, both girls repositioning their arms to be around each other's necks, their smiles broadening as they did.

"Alright," Amber said, trying not to laugh, and snapped the picture, making sure to get Oobleck and Port in the background along with the dead Grimm's body. "Since the two of you will probably want this for posterity's sake, I'll just send it to you now."

The two of them immediately checked the picture after receiving them. "Great picture," Mizu said, smiling up at Rosa.

"It is," Rosa said, "and I think I just found out how I'm going to tell my mom about us."

**A/N1: So, what's a good shipping name for Rosa and Mizu? I'm not a big shipper myself, ignoring the fact that this fic endorses Bumblebee, but I do very much enjoy some of the names the RWBY fandom has come up with that combines each person's colors like White Rose, Bumblebee, Monochrome, Checkmate/Checkmating, and Ladybug, and so I'd like to see what you can come up with for combining the colors Blue and Pink.**

**A/N2: Now I have something I want to say. This chapter was… an experience to write, but not one I regret. I couldn't actually come up with anything for how to write Rosa and Mizu getting together that I was happy with, so I decided to go with the tried and true "Write What You Know" method… or at least as close to that as I could get as a straight male in this scenario, and put in a few, edited, experiences I've had with a few of my girlfriends over the years... and how I found out that one of my roommates my freshman year of college is gay.**

**A/N3: Yeah, also, there will be no sex in this fic. I repeat, there will be no smut/lemon/insert term here, in this fic. If there's anything that's going to cause the rating to rise, it's not going to be that.**


	6. Converging Tales

**A/N1: Holy crap, am I blind sometimes. It's taken me this long to realize that there's the arrows next to the Characters names that let me put on those relationship brackets around them. I'm just hoping that this stems from this being the first time I've actually put up a chapter at a time other than 1 in the morning my time. Anyway, yes this fic will feature Bumblebee by the end of it, but not White Rose, that ship can go fu-, yeah, no, not going to say that because I have no problem with WR, I just don't ship it myself.**

**A/N2: Dear lord this chapter EXPLODED in length. Well, the last one did as well, just not quite to the same extent. Somehow I doubt I'm going to be able continue making each subsequent chapter longer than the previous one. I could have split this chapter right down the middle, and the result would be two chapters each longer than each of the first 3 chapters. And that's discounting this chapter's Author's Notes. As it stands, I want to get to the end of what I have planned by Chapter 10 at the absolute latest, so… yeah, long chapters. Although I doubt they're going to be getting longer that this, 16,500 words is absolutely insane in my opinion, or 17000 according to FF, its count is always several hundred words higher than Google Docs's count. Although my life is getting busier and busier because college, so updates will also be less often, but will always be put up on either a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday… or stupid early on Monday like most of them have been thus far. Really, the only time it's not possible a chapter will go up is after like 6AM on Monday until noon Friday, my timezone of course.**

**A/N3-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. For the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

"The old White Fang logo," Jaune said, looking up at the Cross Continental Transmit Tower in the distance, "I think we might have a long night still ahead of us."

"Are you sure this is the old logo?" Pyrrha asked, turning to face Velvet.

Velvet nodded, "I am, I saw it all the time growing up. This part of town used to see meetings often as they tried to recruit new members, before well…" The others nodded in understanding. "Anyway, it's been ten years since then, and I don't know if this spot specifically has any meaning or not to the organization, but this area certainly isn't a stranger to them."

"Could you ask around for us?" Ren asked. "Somehow I doubt we'll make much headway if we start asking about the White Fang."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Velvet agreed. "I'm going to need one of your numbers though." Jaune nodded and exchanged numbers with her. "I need to be up early tomorrow, though, so I can't start tonight, but I can start tomorrow night, okay?" Jaune nodded, letting the rabbit eared girl leave.

"So where now?" Nora asked.

"The nearest CCT tower," Jaune said, pointing. "If there's anyone we can get info on the White Fang from, it'll be Blake. It may be an hour later in Atlas, but I doubt she'll have gone to bed already."

"Okay!" Nora said as Pyrrha and Ren nodded. They quickly set off towards the tower, arriving not too long afterwards due to the relatively empty streets allowing the cab they flagged down to move quickly. The specific CCT tower they were visiting was located along one of the rivers running through the city on the southern end of the residential district, near the divide between the industrial and agricultural districts. Its positioning meant that it was being used primarily by visiting businessmen and businesswomen from the other kingdoms, and was normally empty outside of working hours. This allowed the team to call the others without worrying about being overheard.

"Hello, is there any way I can help you today?" the holographic helper asked as they stepped into the empty central room.

"We need to make a private call," Jaune said.

"Alright," the helper replied. "Take a seat at the nearest free terminal and just dial the number, you'll be patched through immediately."

Jaune nodded and walked to the closest terminal and quickly entered Blake's number as his teammates took their seats around him. A few moments passed as the terminal connected, and Blake's picture quickly appeared on the monitor in front of them, meaning that the call had reached her scroll, but she didn't pick up. "Okay," Jaune said, beginning to dial a different number, "Let's try Ruby."

The call quickly connected and after a few rings there was a reply as a picture of Ruby appeared on the screen. "Oh, uh, hi Jaune," she sounded surprised.

"Hi, Ruby, is Blake there?" Jaune asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Blake? No, she's not, it's just me and Weiss. Why?" Ruby's surprise was quickly being replaced with confusion.

"There's some questions we need to ask her about... well, about the White Fang," Jaune answered, beginning to feel uneasy.

"The White Fang?" Ruby asked, surprise quickly returning to her voice, with the confusion only strengthening.

"Yeah, it's about from before they turned to terrorism," Jaune answered. "Do you know what she's doing? I've tried to reach her but the call failed."

"No," Ruby answered, the confusion in her voice continuing to grow. "I just talked to Yang a few minutes ago. Jaune, what's this about?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Jaune answered truthfully, rubbing his forehead as he spoke. "If you've got time, I can tell you what little we've got."

"Sure," Ruby answered. "Tell us what you can."

"Okay, so, uh, now to figure where to start," Jaune said to himself.

"Jaune, you okay?" Ruby asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah, yeah," Jaune said when Pyrrha put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I guess to start, yesterday Pyrrha and I were out on a mission with your dad and your uncle, and while we were nearing the end of it, a woman attacked me. I don't think she was the same woman you've told us about, but she was wearing a large Grimm mask-"

"Was she wearing black?" Weiss cut him off to ask.

"Yes," Jaune said, surprised. "Covered entirely in it other than the mask. You've seen her before?"

"We've seen a woman matching that description," Weiss said. "Yesterday afternoon when we were clearing Grimm out of one of my family's mines."

"What was she doing in the mines?" Jaune asked.

"We wish we knew," Ruby said, "bu- what?"

"Ruby?" Jaune asked.

"It's fine, the Aura reader just came up," Ruby said, sounding a little concerned. "Uh, just go on with your story, why are you interested in the White Fang from before they turned violent, they didn't start wearing their masks until afterwards."

Jaune nodded, "Around an hour ago, we were visiting an older par-"

"Yang just lost a large amount of Aura," Weiss cut in.

"Jaune, I'm going to have to call you back," Ruby said, panic quickly entering her voice. "Yang and Blake might be in trouble." The call immediately cut out, leaving Team JNPR sitting in silence for a few moments.

"Should we just call it a night and wait for her to call?" Pyrrha asked.

"No," Jaune shook his head, sounding tired despite his conviction. "We should keep busy. Try and keep our minds on what we have to do."

Pyrrha nodded, "Alright, what should we do?"

"I don't know," Jaune said. "All Ozpin said was that a masked woman was appearing in the area we visited, we went and we found her, but we heard nothing about her appearing anywhere else…"

"What about where Team RWBY encountered the other woman?" Ren asked. "They met her in several places throughout the city."

Jaune sat back up quickly in the chair, "You're right, we can visit…" he slumped back over, "I don't really remember where they saw or dealt with her most times. The one I remember most is on the train from Mountain Glenn, and we can't really go visit a sealed tunnel. Not from this side at least."

"What about Yang's info source?" Nora asked. "We can just go there and press the guy for info!" she quickly stood as she suggested this.

"Alright, lead the way," Jaune said. "You're the only one who's been there among the four of us."

"Yeah!" Nora began turning around, before stopping, "Except I don't remember where in town it is. I just know it's north in a bad part of town."

"I… can't honestly say I'm surprised by that, and we can't exactly ask Yang," Jaune said, sounding depressed for a moment before perking back up. "Although, I think I know someone who might have kept a note of it," he immediately began dialing away. He glanced over at a clock, "He might already be up too."

"Who are you calling?" Pyrrha asked as it began connecting.

Her question was almost immediately answered as Neptune's face appeared on the screen. "Uh, hey Jaune… it's kind of early," he sounded as if he'd only just woken up.

"It's late here," Jaune said. "I'm sorry if I woke you up."

Neptune shook his head, "No, no, it's alright, it's just early. What's up?"

"Do you remember where that club where Yang brought you to talk with that guy, uh, Junior?" Jaune asked, trying to remember. It was a subject that the three teams had rarely discussed outside times of need. Team JNPR had only found out not long following their second year.

"Yeah, sure," Neptune said. "But why don't you just ask Yang?" There was a few moments of silence, "Jaune?"

"We're not really sure what's happening," Pyrrha spoke up. "We were just talking with Ruby and Weiss, but their scrolls went off and they left saying that Blake and Yang were in trouble."

"What!?" Neptune called out.

"Yeah," Jaune said. "Ruby said she'd let us know what's happening, but until then, we're in the dark."

"Alright," Neptune said, still sounding worried. "Uh… the club's on a side road off of… hang on, it'll be faster if I just send you the file I have than trying to remember."

"Okay," Jaune said, setting his scroll on the terminal. The terminal beeped after a few seconds to signal the transfer was complete. "Thank you."

"No problem. Just let me know when you hear back from Ruby, okay?"

"No problem, I'll make sure Ruby calls you herself," Jaune reassured him.

"Thanks," Neptune ended the call.

"I guess we should head out then," Jaune said, opening the file Neptune had sent. Beyond just the location, it also featured a brief overview of what was in the club. A layout, guard numbers, weapons, and main security. If there was anything Neptune could be relied on for, it was quick observations, and, even though the file was a few years old, the information was still valuable nonetheless. Looking back up, the others nodded and they quickly left the tower. "We're going to have to travel across the entire city…" Jaune sounded dejected as he loaded the address onto the map.

"Let's get going," Ren said, a cab already stopping for him. Jaune nodded and the four of them rapidly climbed in, Jaune giving the driver an address near their destination as they did. The cab quickly set off across the town, making it to their destination after what felt like far too long. Jaune quickly paid the driver and they set off to the nearby club. Stepping inside of it, they found that Neptune's description still held true for the most part. However, the number of random men standing around was significantly lower than Neptune had indicated, although the twin women guarding near the entrance were still there, and were more heavily armed.

"Hey Junior, we got some new faces. And they don't look the part," one of the random men called out. A man with short black hair wearing a suit waved the man down while he continued to talk with another man with shoulder length blonde hair. They continued talking for a few minutes while Team JNPR walked over and took a seat in plain view of the information broker, Nora using her small frame to keep out of sight of the guards. After several minutes, the blonde haired man walked away and exited the club, leaving Junior alone to give a few orders to the men nearby. He then stepped forwards to examine his new visitors, only to stop dead as his eyes fell upon Pyrrha,

"Not often I get someone as famous as Pyrrha Nikos in my humble club," his voice sounded welcoming.

"Your humble club is, uh, very well armed," Pyrrha said, looking over at the gathering group of men.

"Yes, well, we're in a very bad part of town," Junior said, the blatant lies sounding natural and honest, "we need to protect ourselves and our customers."

"Yes, especially should a blonde teenager come looking for info," Nora said, stepping out from behind the other three. She giggled at the look of horror and recognition that crossed Junior's face for a moment before he managed to recover his composure. Most of his men, however, didn't recover as quickly as their boss.

"So, you know blondie then," Junior said, still addressing Pyrrha. All politeness had completely vanished from his voice.

"Good friends with her actually," Pyrrha said, maintaining her ever friendly tone.

"So what do you want?" Junior asked, clearly wishing for them to leave.

"Information," Jaune said simply.

"And if you don't give us what we want," Nora said, grabbing Magnhild. "Well, we've trained alongside our old friend for several years now."

Junior nodded slowly, "Alright, alright, but I'm going to need more than just 'information' as an answer. Lot's of people come around for that, what do you want?"

"A woman in a mask," Jaune said simply.

"Which one?" Junior asked, walking back to the bar, the team following behind him. "I've got reports on a black haired woman in a red marked mask, and a black clothed woman in a blue marked mask."

"We'd like info on both, actually," Jaune said.

"Of course you would," Junior said, sounding more and more aggravated as he spoke. "For a long time I thought they were ghost stories. They've been around longer than most the current underground. Even me."

"If you're trying to get us to leave with nothing, it won't work. We don't mind info that might be a little outdated," Ren said calmly.

Junior nodded, not even bothering to hide his displeasure. He motioned for a nearby man to move. The man exited into a back room, "While he gets the files themselves, what do you want to know first?"

"You're prepared for someone who thought that they were ghost stories," Nora said, a little too cheerily for Junior's comfort.

"I said that I used to think they were ghost stories," Junior replied. "And even if they were, most ghost stories have at least some basis in reality. So," he looked over at Jaune, feeling that he was the most easily intimidated, "again, what do you want to know first?"

"How about how long they've been showing up for?" Jaune asked, feeling increasingly uneasy the longer he remained in the club, Junior's stare not helping matters. A few years ago, Junior's assessment of Jaune's ability to be scared off would have been accurate, but four years of facing the monstrous Grimm had left him far more brave in the face of another person than he used to be.

"The blue masked woman's been sighted around for about twenty years, around whenever it was that that Ao woman offed herself, and has been seen pretty consistently since. The red masked one only started being reported on about seventeen years ago, ever since Mountain Glenn got sealed up. Although reports of her were scarce or even nonexistent until the White Fang started started getting really aggressive a few years back."

"And the blue masked woman? Has she been appearing any more or less since the White Fang, uh, 'got aggressive'?"

Junior laughed coldly, "In a way, the red masked woman almost always appeared to fight against the White Fang, the blue masked one always seemed to be ready to defend the faunus whenever they're threatened, weather by humans or by the White Fang. Since the White Fang were standing against the faunus that weren't members just as much as they were against people, she appeared more as well." As he finished talking the man returned holding a computer storage chip, which he handed to Junior. "Now, if you're interested in the rest, you can take this. However, if you do, I have a request to make first."

"I don't think you're in a position to make requests," Nora said, sounding eager to hurt someone, something that wasn't lost on Junior.

"Hold on," Jaune said to Nora before turning back to Junior. "What is it?"

"You tell blondie that I've recently got some info on her old query that she might not like. And," he looked at Nora, "that's not my decision, blondie's orders on that one. She didn't want a middleman on any info I found regarding it."

"I'll give her the message," Jaune said, taking the chip from the man. Junior nodded, and motioned for them to leave. The team quickly left the club, and once outside, Jaune quickly inserted the chip into his scroll. "Not a lot of info, well actually there's a lot of it, just not much substance to it, although I'm not really surprised at this point…" he trailed off as his eyes fell on a detailed drawing of the woman in black's mask. The markings on the mask were intricate and dark blue. "This is it," Jaune said, staring at the drawing. "This is the mask the woman who attacked me was wearing."

"So our new mystery woman is the one who attacked you, but the old one isn't, and we've no clue as to who either one is." Pyrrha said, looking at the files as well.

"That sounds about right," Jaune said, sounding frustrated.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, "we should probably stop for the night. We're stressed, tired, and there's a lot to go through in these files. We'll manage a lot better if we're rested."

Jaune rubbed his head before taking a deep breath. "You're right, you're right." He closed out of the files on his scroll and reopened the map. "There's a decent hotel nearby, we can stay there tonight." The others nodded and they set off, moving slowly in their exhaustion. As they got close to the hotel, the moon reached a high point overhead, bathing the city in its pale light. "Do you have any rooms available?" Jaune asked as they entered the hotel lobby.

"Several, although every room in our hotel has two beds if that's fine with you," the woman standing behind the counter replied.

Jaune nodded, "We'll take two rooms."

The woman nodded, and typed at her computer for a few moments. She then grabbed four card keys and scanned them through the computer, before pairing them into two different holders. "The first two are for Room 307, the second two are for Room 325." The team members nodded, Jaune and Nora grabbing the cards, although Ren quickly took the cards from Nora, leaving her whimpering. The four of them slowly made their way to the elevators and rode them up to the third floor where they split up towards their respective rooms. Ren and Nora walking towards their room, Nora leading the way while Ren slowly followed behind, and Jaune and Pyrrha slowly made their way down the other end of the hall alongside each other.

When Nora and Ren got into their room, Nora quickly moved around to the table to set down Magnhild before moving back over to the door to remove her shoes. She then headed to the closer bed, promptly collapsing onto it. Ren smiled, quickly removing his own shoes and setting Stormflower down next to Magnhild. He then picked Nora up to set her on the bed properly before turning off the lights and lying down on the second bed. After Ren had lain down, Nora reopened her eyes and looked over at his bed, smiling.

In Jaune and Pyrrha's room, the two of them removed their shoes and set their weapons down on the room's table. Jaune collapsed on the bed closer to the door. Pyrrha turned off the room's light before climbing into bed herself. "Today's been… long," she said as she snuggled closely to Jaune in the bed.

"Yeah, it has," Jaune sounding extremely tired as he put his arm around Pyrrha. "I'm more than ready for it to be over," he shook his head slowly. "I really hope Blake and Yang are alright."

"I'm sure they will be," Pyrrha said comfortingly. "They're both strong, it'll take a lot to take them down."

"Yeah, well, we've already been through a lot. I was hoping we were past having to deal with other people like this."

Pyrrha nodded slowly before kissing Jaune's cheek. "Somehow I don't think we'll ever be past that." Jaune nodded slowly before they drifted off to sleep.

Jaune was woken up by a his scroll ringing with an incoming call. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket, and, as his eyes adjusted to the light coming off its screen, he saw an image of Ruby sitting at a CCT terminal. "Hi, Ruby," he said as he sat up while Pyrrha rolled over on the bed.

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby answered, sounding stressed and tired.

"How are Blake and Yang?" Jaune asked as he looked over at the window to see sunlight streaming through the sides of the curtains.

"They'll both be fine, but Yang'll need to heal a bit first."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, worried. He heard Ruby sigh deeply on the other end.

* * *

Blake was struggling to remain conscious. The masked woman had just left leaving the two Huntresses lying on the floor of the bakery as the sounds of the police neared. Blake's endeavor was made somewhat easier by the stone ring around her neck, for, while it didn't crush her neck, nor did it inhibit her ability to breathe, it was far from comfortable. "What is going on here?" Yang asked after sitting there for nearly half a minute.

"I don't know," Blake said. Speaking was difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which involved the stone ring around her neck. The same could be said for most of her problems at the moment. Yang grunted before taking a deep breath, which was quickly followed by a louder grunt, this one of pain. "Yang?" Blake asked, worry managing to flare up even in her own current condition, something that wasn't helped by Yang saying nothing for a few moments, instead all she could hear was the other woman letting out several sharp breaths. "Yang?" Blake repeated. "What's wrong?"

"My leg," Yang said through clenched teeth, "it," she let out another grunt of pain before she let out a deep breath, "it feels like it's broken." Yang shook her head, "I guess I can't really dismiss my Aura right now if I don't want to be in excruciating pain." Blake instinctively tried to nod before realizing she couldn't move her head as several police officers moved through the crowd and saw the two of them lying in the building. "Hey," Yang said weakly as she raised her hand to wave slowly.

"Tell them to send another ambulance," one of the officers said as he moved into the building. The other one nodded and walked away. The first officer walked over to the two women.

"Hey," Yang said weakly, "if you find a pair of yellow bracelets that expand into shot gauntlets, they're mine, and if you find a dust filled variant chain scythe, it's my friend's. Also, the scroll the guy with the cut leg used to call you, her's too." With that Yang collapsed back onto the floor entirely, letting out a low yelp of pain before beginning to grind her teeth as her Aura gave and ceased protecting her, and ceased to numb the pain along with it. The officer hurried over to the two women and checked on them and moved away to report what Yang had said to the other officers. Blake and Yang lay there without saying a word, or without even being able to say a word in Yang's case, while they waited for the ambulances to arrive. After a few moments, however, a distinct voice called through the relative silence.

"What's going on here!?" Ruby demanded.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you can't go through there," a male voice said. "I'm afraid that applies to you as well Miss Schnee."

"We're just looking for our friends, our scrolls said that their Auras were draining," Weiss said.

"Wait, these two are your friends?"

"Yes," Ruby answered, "and one of them is my sister."

"Come with me." Several seconds later, an officer broke through the crowd, Ruby and Weiss close behind him.

"Yang!" Ruby called out trying to get inside. "Blake!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't go in there," the officer said, restraining her from trying to enter the building, with Weiss's help.

"He's right, Ruby," Weiss said, not sounding pleased.

"But Weiss…"

"No," Weiss shook her head as several ambulances stopped nearby. "Just look at them, they need help, _professional_ help. We'll only make things worse if we try and get in there." Ruby stopped struggling and looked over at her sister who smiled weakly, but still didn't say anything. Several paramedics, with gurneys, were led into the room. The paramedics lifted the two women, taking extra care with the stone around Blake's neck. The added sounds blocked out everything else, preventing Blake from making out what Ruby and Weiss were trying to say to one of the paramedics. When she was loaded into the ambulance, the paramedics inside immediately set about checking her for any serious injuries. As she heard the doors slam shut, she started feeling herself losing consciousness.

Blake found herself standing in an empty car of a long train running through the forest of Forever Fall. It wasn't the Schnee Company freight train that she'd ridden when she'd abandoned the White Fang, instead it was a passenger train that her team had intercepted on its way into the city very late into their fourth year at Beacon. The train had been filled with White Fang members preparing to attack the city. A chill ran down her spine as she felt she already knew where this was going. She walked towards the back end the train, unable to help herself from doing otherwise, eventually arriving at the caboose. The solid blue coloration of the car gave the interior a cold feeling, which was only compounded by the sight of who was inside. "Adam…" Blake said, finding her eyes drawn to the back of the man standing across from her, who was staring out of the back of the train at the rails trailing behind it, extending into the distance.

"Hello Blake," Adam said, his voice cold, as he slowly turned towards her. She couldn't see his eyes behind his mask, but she could feel them moving upwards from her face, and she found herself instinctively reaching up and feeling for her cat ears, instead finding that she was still wearing her old bow, it having yet to be burned off. "Still hiding what you are I see," he shook his head. "I'm disappointed my love, you should let the world know what you are, you shouldn't be ashamed of it."

"I'm not ashamed!" Blake called out defensively as she shook her head, "I'm not hiding it! Not anymore…"

"Why?" Adam asked. "Because you chose to, or because you were forced to," as he said this, the scene changed and she found herself lying on the ground, a warm feeling surrounding her cat ears. She quickly picked herself up off the ground from where she was lying on a street. She didn't need to look around, she already knew where to check, and she looked over towards a large, old light pole. Yang's motorcycle was smoking, parts of it on fire, and it was wrapped around the pole. Yang was picking herself up on the other side of the wreckage. Blake quickly ran over to her. She already knew Yang was okay, but she still felt the need to make sure.

"Blake, your bow," Yang said as Blake approached her. Blake nodded, again, she already knew, this was the event with the rocket. The rocket blast that had hit the motorcycle had also burned her bow, exposing her second set of ears for the world to see. She tried to turn around, but no matter how much she tried to will herself, she couldn't look away from Yang who had turned to face where the rocket had seemed to come from. Instead, Blake waited there for a few moments until she felt a powerful strike to the back of her head, knocking her out. When she awoke, she wasn't on the street anymore, instead she was standing on top of the roof of the train's caboose, Adam still standing across from her.

"You lie my darling. You lie to your enemies, you lie to your friends, but you lie to yourself most of all. I wonder, which lie you've told is the largest? The one where you tell yourself that you have accepted yourself for what you are, or the one where you tell yourself that Ruby, Yang, and," he snickered, "Weiss are your family."

"Shut up!" Blake yelled grabbing Gambol Shroud and aiming it at him, unable to control herself, despite how much she wanted to stop.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it Blake?" Adam said. "But they're nothing to you, aren't they? The White Fang has always been your real family. _I _have always been your family. Ruby's just an annoying child-"

"I told you to shut up!" Blake said, unsheathing Gambol Shroud.

"Weiss is a spoiled, racist brat," Blake started charging towards him. "And Yang's just a loud, dumb-" he was cut off as Blake slashed through him, causing the scene to change once again. She was still standing on the top of the train, however the back end of the caboose was destroyed, and Adam was holding onto a cracking part of the roof with the only ground beneath him being the train tracks, as the vehicle barrelled forward at nearly one hundred miles per hour.

"Adam!" Blake dropped Gambol Shroud as she rushed forward to try and rescue him.

"You didn't save me," Adam said. "You could have, but you let me die."

"No," Blake shook her head, fighting back tears, as she tried reaching out towards him, but he was too far.

"You know it's true," Adam said, almost tauntingly. "My blood is on your hands." He let go of the piece of the roof he was clinging to and dropped to the ground as Blake watched on, unable to avert her gaze. Adam's body twisted and contorted as it flew across the ground. "You killed me Blake. You killed me, and you reaped the rewards from it..."

"No!" Blake shot up out of her hospital bed, her voice quickly lowering to the point of mumbling "I couldn't..." She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she also felt a tingling sensation in her neck, the latter causing her to quickly reach to touch her throat. She instinctively felt for the stone ring, which had been removed. Instead, there were several uneven patches that suggested that the ring had lightly cut her neck in several places.

"Blake," Weiss's surprised voice came from her left. Blake looked over to see Weiss sitting in a chair to the side of the room.

"How long have I been out?" Blake asked, lying back down on the bed, flashes of Adam's body still coming to the forefront of her mind.

"Several hours," Weiss said. "You don't have any significant injuries, just bad Aura loss. The stone that was around your neck gradually wore it down until you passed out from it." Blake nodded slowly, wincing from the scratches around her neck not agreeing with the movement. "Like I said, no significant injuries, but after you passed out, your neck got a number of light cuts from the stone rubbing against you."

"What about Yang?" Blake asked, the images of Adam quickly being replaced with worry. "She said her leg might be broken."

"It's not a might be, it is broken. What happened?" Concern was becoming more and more evident in Weiss's voice as she spoke.

"How is she now?" Blake asked, not wanting to change the subject yet.

"She's still unconscious," Weiss answered. "Wha-"

"I want to see her," Blake began sitting back up.

"You can't," Weiss stood, ready to move over to stop her. "They won't let anyone in to see her right now, not even Ruby." Blake nodded again, and moved so that she was sitting up in the bed. "So, again, what happened?"

"That woman, the one from the mine," Blake said, looking at Weiss.

"She did all of this?"

"Yes," Blake answered, "she fights with Dust. She uses it to augment her body. No," Blake rubbed her hand over her face, "not quite like that. She used the Dust to cover her body. The first thing she did was cover her hand in fire, she later had electricity running over it, and she called a large amount of stone to cover her entire arm in the blink of an eye."

"She's trained with it then," Weiss shook her head.

"Very well trained," Blake said. "She could even summon and dismiss a Dust blade over her left glove with just that hand alone. She also managed to manipulate ice into a rough shape of Yang's gauntlets with just the hand she called it around as well."

Weiss nodded, "Speaking of your weapons. The police found them, but they were unloaded."

"And my scroll?"

"In police custody with the weapons until you and Yang come to pick them up." Blake nodded and quickly got out of the bed. "What are you doing?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"You said I had no major injuries, just the scratches right?" Blake asked, a lightheaded feeling coming over her.

"Yes, but you're still hurt," Weiss said as she moved between Blake and the doorway. "You also don't have your clothes," the heiress pointed out, indicating the hospital gown that Blake was wearing. Blake responded by moving back towards the bed and pressing a button to call a nurse. "Blake, stop."

Blake shook her head as the nurse walked into the room, "You're awake?"

"I'd like my clothes," Blake said. When the nurse didn't say anything, Blake continued "White shirt, white gloves, white pants, black coat, black boots, black ribbons, a magnetic plate, and a purple hat."

"Ma'am, I need to recommend tha-"

"I don't care what you recommend," Blake snapped at the woman, "I would like my clothes. They should be labelled 'Belladonna, Blake'. Now." The nurse nodded and walked off.

"Blake, don't do this," Weiss said, trying to calm the other woman down.

"Weiss, don't try and stop me, you're not going to be able to convince me otherwise. So tell me, what else has happened?"

Weiss sighed, "Ruby was in a call with Ironwood for nearly an hour earlier." She shook her head, "This is being kept quiet, but he's recommending that all Huntsmen travel in pairs, and as for us, and others less experienced like us, well, we're to travel as a full team when possible. For the most part, we just continue our patrols, and even then, only around the plazas, and other high traffic areas. And once our month of patrols are up, it's also recommended we remain on standby, only accept missions if we're approached for help specifically because there aren't alternatives until Yang heals fully."

Blake nodded, "Anything else?"

Before Weiss could speak, the nurse returned. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we're under orders by the General to let him talk to you before we do anything else." With that, she departed before Blake could say anything else. Frustrated Blake sat back down on the bed and waited.

Ironwood entered the room less than twenty minutes later holding a small package. "Hello Blake," he nodded over to Weiss, "Weiss."

"Hello General," they responded, before Blake continued on. "Let's get this over with. What do you want to know?"

"A lot," Ironwood answered, "however I'm going to wait until Yang has woken up to ask most of my questions. Until then, I just want to ask about the woman's connection to the White Fang. Many of the witnesses reported Yang yelling about them at the woman."

Blake nodded, "Yang yelled out in anger because the woman's mask is so similar to the Grimm masks that the White Fang's taken to wearing. However, the woman responded by denying that she has any connection to them."

"And that was it?" Ironwood asked.

"That's what Yang told me," Blake shrugged. "The only other thing she told me was that the woman sounded like she had no emotions."

"But that was all she told you about the White Fang?" Ironwood asked, continuing the original topic.

"Yes," Blake said, sounding even more frustrated than ever. "What do you want General? The woman only held onto Yang for a few seconds, hardly enough time to give her her life story." Ironwood nodded, and handed the package he was holding to Blake. It was her clothes, with that he left the room. Blake immediately walked into the bathroom. She was already out of sight of anyone else, so she left the door open so she could keep talking while she changed. "So, back to what we were talking about earlier, anything else?"

"Blake, are you sure that was all that there was between the woman and the White Fang?" Weiss asked.

"Yes," Blake answered. "I'm sure."

"Are you su-"

"Yes, I'm sure," Blake said, her frustration nearly growing into anger. "Weiss, you should know that I don't condone what the White Fang's done over the last nine years." As she spoke, she extended her right arm out of the bathroom, the long thin scar running from her wrist to the crook of her arm emphasizing her point. "What they've done to all of us. Me... Yang..."

"Alright," Weiss said. "Well, to answer your question, before anything happened, Ruby got a call from Jaune. He tried calling you. Apparently there's another masked woman wearing black going around Vale, one that attacked him."

"Why'd he try calling me?" Blake asked, curious.

"Something happened that made him want to know about the White Fang, the old White Fang."

"The old White Fang…" Blake said as she finished dressing, sans the hat and the ribbons.

"Yeah, you know before they changed."

"I know what you mean," Blake said, stepping out of the bathroom. "Where's Ruby?"

"Outside Yang's room," Weiss answered, starting to lead the way, knowing she wasn't going to be able to stop Blake, especially since Ironwood had been the one to fulfill her demands for her clothes. They walked to the elevators as Blake put the ribbons around her arms. They took the elevators to a higher floor where they travelled past a number of different rooms before spotting Ruby standing outside one of them.

"Weiss, she still hasn- Blake? You should be in bed," Ruby said, sounding stressed, as the two of them approached.

"I already tried telling her that," Weiss said, stopping next to Ruby. Blake however moved over to look in the room's window. Yang was lying on the bed, her left leg was covered in a cast and restrained, but she otherwise looked fine.

"She'll be okay," Ruby said. "The doctors said that her leg's the only real problem, other than that she's just out of energy."

"Yet they won't let us in," Blake said, her voice unreadable.

"They want to check up on her when she wakes up first," Ruby said. "Now go back to your hospital bed, you need rest." Blake shook her head, and started to walk off. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I'm just going for a walk around."

"Not alone you're not," Weiss said. "I'm not going to let you just go off on your own and mope."

"Neither am I," Ruby said, walking over. "They're set to call me as soon as we can visit Yang, so until then, there's no point in just sitting around." Blake looked between the two of them and nodded. The three of them set off back towards the elevator. "If you want, we can stop by the police station first to get your things," Ruby suggested as they entered the elevator. Blake didn't say anything, instead just nodding.

"Mom, that's one of the ladies that helped us!" a young male voice called out as they stepped out into the lobby. Before any of them could say anything, a little boy ran over to them and grabbed Blake's hand. "Thank you, thank you."

"It wasn't a problem," Blake said unsure of what else to say as the boy's mother walked over to them.

"What a nice coincidence," the woman said. "My husband and I just got here and we get to thank one of the people who saved them."

"We were just in the right place," Blake said as the woman let go of her.

"Now, let's go see your brother," the woman said to the young boy. They quickly set off, revealing small tails as they walked towards a tall man.

"So were you saving them from the woman?" Ruby asked.

"No," Blake shook her head. "If anything the woman was the one who actually saved them. We were just trying to stop her from going too far with the attacker. She was holding him by the throat and was choking him when we found them."

"That explains quite a bit," Weiss said as they left the building, Blake putting her wool cap on as they did. "They said that the older boy said they were attacked by the man that was found unconscious in the back alley."

"So, which way to the police station?" Blake asked.

"This way," Weiss said, leading them down the street. "We're on the main road heading directly west off of Ao Plaza, the police station's right at the end of the road." Blake nodded as they walked down the road. The police station was directly across from the end of the road, the main entrance sitting along the walkway leading into the plaza with a side entrance and a third entrance for the police cars connecting to the road that forms a ring around the plaza's outer buildings.

"Blake Belladonna," Blake said as she entered the station, Ruby and Weiss waiting outside. "I'm here to pick up my weapon and my scroll." The man working at the desk nodded, and checked the computer system. After confirming a few things, he called in the request, and a few minutes later, an officer came into the room holding her things. "Thank you," Blake said, grabbing Gambol Shroud. She immediately unsheathed the weapon to examine it. There were a few chips in the blade where it had been embedded in stone, one of the joints was also damaged, and the magazine was missing from the hilt, all simple fixes. Sheathing the weapon, she placed it on her back,grabbed her scroll, and left the building after signing several forms.

"You have everything?" Ruby asked as Blake exited the building.

"Other than Yang's gauntlets, yes, but I didn't expect to be able to pick them up," Blake answered. "Is there a CCT nearby? I think I should answer Jaune's questions before anything else."

"Alright," Weiss said. "It's just south of the plaza." Blake nodded, and the three of them walked off into the plaza itself. The large crowd that had been in the plaza before was still there despite it being the middle of the week.

"Wow, this place is so full of people," Ruby said, looking around.

"It's always like this," Weiss said. "Its a plaza that's eternally full of life. Every building in the plaza offers some form of entertainment like theaters, shops, and restaurants."

"Actually," Blake spoke up, "Yang and I came across a weapons museum to the southern end."

"Really?" Ruby perked up.

"Yeah, we can head there after the CCT," Blake said. Ruby nodded, a tired smile on her face, and they continued on towards the tower, which was only a single story taller than the surrounding buildings just on the far side of the street that were ringing the plaza. Inside, the CCT was just as crowded as the plaza to the north of it, and the three women were forced to wait for several minutes before a terminal opened up for use. Ruby immediately sat down and dialed Jaune's number.

"Hi, Ruby," Jaune answered, sounding as tired as Ruby and Weiss felt.

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby replied.

"How are Blake and Yang?" Jaune asked.

"They'll both be fine, but Yang'll need to heal a bit first," Ruby said, glancing over at Blake, who had an unreadable expression on her face.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, beginning to sound worried.

Ruby sighed deeply, "I think Blake should be the one to answer that." She stood and moved out of the seat allowing Blake to take it.

"Wait, is Blake there now?" Jaune asked.

"I'm here," Blake answered. "And Yang and I were attacked by a masked woman in black. I'm alright," she interrupted when she heard Jaune begin to speak, "but Yang's leg is broken. Weiss told me that you encountered a masked woman in black as well, and," she lowered her voice to avoid being overheard, "that there was a connection to the old White Fang."

"Yeah," Jaune said. "We were in an older part of town, and she just disappeared in a bright flash after moving out of sight around a corner. When we got around to the other side, we found the ground covered in oil, forming the shape of their old logo."

"And you're sure it was their old one?" Blake asked

"Well, Velvet was the one who identified it, but I'm inclined to believe her since it didn't have the claw marks going through it, instead there was a circle going around the head."

"That's the old logo," Blake confirmed, leaning back for a few moments. "Do you know anything else about this woman?"

"Yeah, we were able to get some info from that man, Junior, that Yang's managed to scare. We even got a decent image of her mask, albeit a drawing of it, but it's fairly detailed, and it matches what I can remember from the glimpses I've managed to get... The markings aren't red like normal, they're a dark like navy blue." The three women in Atlas looked at each other for a few moments.

"That's the same color as the mask of the woman who attacked us," Blake eventually said.

"Yeah, the same woman we encountered in the mines a few days ago," Ruby added, not completely sure what to make of it.

"Did she give off a glow?" Jaune asked.

"She did," Blake said to the surprise of everyone else. "Every time she made use of her Dust, and when she blocked- her mask, no the markings on her mask, glowed every time she made use of her Aura."

"Just like our woman when she attacked me when Pyrrha and I were out on a mission."

"How long has this woman been around?" Weiss asked.

"From what we've heard, twenty years," Jaune said.

"Just like our woman," Weiss said, feeling unnerved.

"Alright," Jaune said, "I think we should all just start from the beginning and give our stories from the beginning."

"You said beginning twice," Weiss pointed out.

"But," Ruby cut in to prevent anyone else from responding to Weiss, "it sounds like a good plan."

* * *

"I know, Oz, I know," Ironwood said, pacing around his office. He was alone, having ordered everyone else to not disturb him until he said otherwise.

"Regardless of whether you know or not," a woman's voice came from his computer, "it's good to be reminded." Ironwood turned back to face his desk, a large number of different faces were spread out on the screen of his computer, the various leaders of the world's Huntsmen and Huntresses academies from each of the Kingdoms, a few trusted allies, and the members of Atlas' Hunting Council. "Someone who can truly challenge and decisively defeat two Huntresses, even if they are only newly graduated, is someone we should prepare for."

"You've just repeated what Ozpin said," a man, with Vacuo coat of arms next to his face, pointed out.

"Because it's something worth saying," the woman said, Mistral's coat of arms next to her face.

"Is there really a need for all of us to be here?" another woman asked, this one from Atlas. "That other woman, Cinder, never caused this much of a stir, and she managed to infiltrate Beacon itself."

"Cinder also worked exclusively within Vale," another man said, also from the Hunting Council. "These people do not."

"Yes, but Cinder also had the backings of an entire terrorist network," the woman argued back. "One that was found to be able to hide more easily than any group of their size should have any right to. Yet, according to what witnesses said, the woman working in Atlas has denied all connection to the White Fang, correct?"

"That comes third hand," Ironwood said. "Only one of the Huntresses involved heard it herself, and thus far I've only been able to talk to the one who wasn't told directly by this woman, and the people who witnessed and overheard the two talking after the woman left."

"Still, every single one of them reported enough of a similar story that it is extremely likely that it's accurate," a woman from Vacuo said.

"Regardless, it would be best to hear from Yang herself," Glynda said, acting as a voice from Vale alongside Ozpin.

"I've already alerted the hospital staff to my need to talk with her. They also notified me as soon as Blake woke up, I trust they'll do the same with Yang after they make sure she's well enough to talk," Ironwood said.

"Now it comes back to what I was saying," the Mistralton woman said, "I never said that we shouldn't have representatives from each Kingdom discussing this, I was asking why we were _all _here. Surely there's not this much of a need."

"As of yet, there's not," an older man from Atlas said. "However, Cinder caused far more damage than she would have had we taken proactive steps against her the moment we began to see the writing on the walls. Something none of us wish to repeat I'm sure. Now we merely wished for all of us to be up to date on what is at hand for this meeting thus far. Now we need to discuss things amongst the ones of us from the Kingdoms affected." The others nodded in acknowledgement and backed out of the conversation, leaving only Ozpin, Glynda, Ironwood, and three other people from Atlas.

"Now, Ozpin, you've mentioned that a team in Vale is looking into things on your end," the Atlesian woman said.

"They are," Ozpin nodded, "and they are also old friends with the team that dealt with the woman in Atlas. I have little doubt that they'll wind up exchanging information amongst themselves."

"You sing high praise of your former students as always," a man from Atlas said. "Let's hope we don't see a repeat of what happened three and a half years ago when the White Fang broke through the walls and let Grimm into the city."

"I think we can all agree that we wouldn't like to see a repeat of that," Ironwood said.

"Can we agree to that?" Glynda asked.

"What are you implying?" Ironwood asked. Glynda just shook her head.

"Barring your bad blood," the woman from Atlas spoke up, "if they are sharing information, hopefully they'll be able to figure things out about these women that we can't."

* * *

"It sounds like we're dealing with one woman not two," Pyrrha said, having woken up in the middle of Jaune's side of the discussion. Blake had just finished telling her side.

"I'm thinking the same thing," Ruby said, leaning backwards against the wall behind the terminal. "And she's more than likely a former member of the White Fang, or at least was a big supporter of them before they changed. It would certainly explain why she denied having any connection to them to Yang. But," Ruby scratched the side of her head, "I don't see how she'd be able to move so quickly between the two kingdoms."

"Well," Weiss said, "there are Dust mixtures that can allow someone to move great distances and pretty much teleport, but I've never heard of one that can go as far as to cross between kingdoms, at least not very effectively."

"But it's not impossible?" Ruby asked.

"No," Weiss shook her head, "it's not impossible in the slightest, it would just require an exorbitant amount of Dust."

"How much?" Jaune asked.

"I'm not sure," Weiss said. "It's a field I'm not very well addressed in, but the last I heard, it would take more dust than someone could conceivably hide under a coat. But that was a few years ago." Blake stood from the terminal. "What are you doing?" Weiss lowered her voice so that Jaune and Pyrrha wouldn't hear.

"I'm done talking," Blake said, walking back over to where Ruby had been leaning while the younger woman took the seat at the terminal.

"So what now?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know," Jaune said, "but I think Pyrrha and I should go catch Ren and Nora up on what we've been discussing."

"Alright," Ruby said, "I guess I'll end the call then."

"Before you do," Pyrrha said. "We got the info on where Junior's club was located from Neptune. It was right after you and Weiss ran off because of Yang's Aura going down. We told him that much, you should probably catch him up yourself."

"Also," Jaune said, "he said that he had info on Yang's old query, Junior I mean," Blake's eyes widened. "He said that if she wanted to know more, she'd have to discuss things with him herself. Apparently it was her own orders on that one."

"Alright, thank you," Ruby said, ending the call. She turned to look at Weiss and Blake. Weiss looked surprised, while Blake's face was unreadable. Weiss walked over to talk to Blake while Ruby started trying to get her attention. "Wait I don't… have Neptune's number… Oh well," she turned back to the terminal, "I do have another one." She quickly dialed in another number.

"Been a while Ruby," a familiar voice answered as the picture of a red haired man appeared on the terminal in front of her.

"Hi, Scarlet, and yeah it has," Ruby said, smiling tiredly.

"First Neptune gets a call from Jaune this morning, now a call from you at the end of the day, today's certainly been interesting," Scarlet said.

"Speaking of Neptune," Ruby said, wanting to get straight to the point, "did he mention what the call was about?"

"No he didn't, why?" Scarlet sounded slightly disappointed.

"Okay, I need to talk to him about it," Ruby said. "And before you say anything else, it is good to talk to you again, but there're pressing matters right now."

"I'm beginning to hear that in your voice," Scarlet said, "hold on a minute." Several seconds passed in silence before there was anything else on the line.

"Hey Ruby," Neptune's voice came through. "How're Blake and Yang?"

"They'll be alright," Ruby said. "Yang's got a broken leg and is still passed out, but Blake's completely fine other than a few scratches."

"I suppose it could be a lot worse," Neptune said. "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"More than you know," Ruby said, "but now's not the best time. I'd prefer to wait until Yang's woken up."

"That makes sense," Neptune said, curiosity unhidden in his voice, "I'll hand the call back over to Scarlet."

"Okay, thank you," Ruby said.

"So, I'm guessing now isn't the best time to talk," Scarlet said.

"No, it's not, but," Ruby paused to think for a moment about the eight hour difference between the two kingdoms, "around the time you wake up would be perfect, I doubt we'll be getting much sleep tonight as is."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't live all that far from a CCT."

Ruby laughed, "I live close by one as well. I was actually saying that more so for when to expect a call, but that certainly makes things easier right now. Anyway, I'll explain everything then. Although, you, uh, might be able to ask Neptune for some details now. I'm not quite sure what he knows though."

"Alright, will do," Scarlet said, ending the call.

Ruby leaned back in the terminal's chair sitting there in silence for a few seconds before turning to face Weiss and Blake. "So, what now?"

"Anything to pass the time until Yang wakes up," Blake said.

"So back to the plaza then," Weiss said. The three of them walked out of the tower and north into the plaza.

"Hang on," Blake said, walking over to a nearby store, "I have something to pick up." Ruby and Weiss looked at each other before shrugging and following Blake into the store.

"Oh, hello Blake," the store manager said cheerily, seeing Blake walk inside. "I thought you said to expect you last night."

Blake nodded her head, "I did, but something came up. Anyway, I'm here now." The woman nodded and walked into the back of the store for a moment before walking out holding Blake's new coat. Blake nodded and walked up the counter. The first thing she did was remove Gambol Shroud, making the other woman jump. "Sorry," Blake apologized as she set the weapon down onto the counter before she removed her coat. The woman working there then handed the new coat to Blake, her eyes never leaving the blade resting on her counter. Blake quickly put it on, making sure her hair falling down behind her back was inside the coat when it was closed up. It was nearly identical to the older one, the only notable difference being the hood, which prompted Blake to immediately take off her wool cap and stuff it into her pocket.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep this coat," the woman said, holding up the older one. "It's certainly a unique design, and I'd like to make more based on it. Blake nodded, and grabbed Gambol Shroud, returning it to its position on her back.

"Is that it?" Weiss asked as Blake walked back over to them.

"It is," Blake said, putting up her hood, the enlarged design allowing it to cover her entire head, ears included. However, the loose fitting design of the hood caused the fabric between her ears to fall down slightly creating a slight divot on the top of her head, making it appear far taller and elongated than it actually was, causing both Ruby and Weiss to burst out laughing. "What is it?" Blake asked, turning towards them.

"Oh, nothing," Ruby said, with Weiss nodding in agreement. Blake narrowed her eyes for a moment before letting it go. "Now, that weapons museum."

"And after that?" Weiss asked. "Somehow I doubt we'll be remaining there for an extended period of time. "Well, Blake and I won't."

"I know a good movie to see," Blake said. "Although…"

"Although what?" Weiss asked.

"You've never shown much interest in sci-fi," Blake shrugged.

* * *

"So, Neptune," Scarlet said, taking a seat in a restaurant with the rest of his team as night began to fall in Mistral, "are you going to tell us what the calls from Jaune and Ruby were about?"

"Please do," Sage said, sitting down between Scarlet and Neptune. "It's been bothering me all day. It's been bothering all of us."

Neptune nodded, "Alright, but first," he shook Sun to get his attention, "it concerns Blake too, so you may want to pay attention."

"Who cares," Sun said, who had been uncharacteristically glum since the mention of Blake during the call with Ruby earlier.

"The fact that you're still so moody about this several months later proves that you do," Sage said. Sun said nothing but slowly nodded his head.

Neptune took a deep breath before beginning to explain, "Well, Blake and Yang were attacked by… something, I don't know what, but it left Yang with a broken leg."

"And Blake?" Sun asked, staring at his old friend.

"She's fine, just a little banged up but nothing lasting," Neptune said reassuringly.

"That's it? You didn't ask for any more info!?"

"Yes," Neptune said, "Ruby sounded extremely stressed, probably because of Yang."

"If you want more info," Scarlet said, "I can talk to Ruby in the morning, I can ask questions then." Sun nodded slowly. "And honestly, I'm more worried about what could bring the two of them down like that. They're both extremely strong." Sun smiled, thinking back to some of his sparring matches with his former girlfriend.

* * *

Yang was standing in a darkened room, facing off against the White Fang Lieutenant, who was holding his chainsword. He quickly struck out, trying to get in the first strike. Yang brought up her arms and blocked the blow with Ember Celica, smiling as she felt the energy from the blow course through her body. She quickly moved in to strike at the man with a quick left hook, delivering a blast from her gauntlet as she struck. The man, however, ducked while bringing down the chainsword, which had been deflected upwards from Yang's earlier guard. Yang quickly fired from her right gauntlet to propel herself out of the way as the chainsword struck the ground hard as Yang spun around and hit the man directly in his mask, knocking him backwards slightly and causing the mask to slip to the side. The man quickly regained his balance and moved to fix his mask so that he'd be able to see again. Taking advantage of the man's momentary blindness, Yang struck again, delivering a powerful blow into the man's gut with her left hand, followed by an uppercut with her right that was empowered with another shot from her gauntlet. As the man flew into the air, he quickly moved his chainsword so that it caught Yang on the bottom of the chin as he flew upward.

Yang took a few steps backwards, her Aura having blocked the blow from harming her, but that didn't stop the blow from stinging from the blunt force of the impact. The man landed on the ground, and quickly tried picking himself up from the ground, but before he could, Yang let out all the energy she'd absorbed, causing a faint yellow glow to emanate from her body as she delivered a powerful blow to the back of his head, knocking him into the floor and knocking him out. Standing over the man's unconscious body, the scene quickly changed around her. She was running down a hallway, Weiss at her side. "Blake!?" Yang called out.

"We don't want to alert anyone that we're here," Weiss said.

"We just left Ruby to fight Neo," Yang pointed out, "I'm pretty sure they probably already know we're moving on past her."

Weiss remained silent for a few moments. "Blake!" she finally called out.

"I thought so," Yang said, throwing open a side door, finding an empty room. The two of them moved down the hallway, checking rooms as they progressed, eventually coming to a door at the end. The two women nodded and Yang kicked the door open, revealing the White Fang Lieutenant with his back turned to the doorway. He turned around, and held up his chainsword, looking between his two new visitors before quickly leaving the room, leaving Blake behind, lying, unconscious, in a chair.

"I'll follow him," Weiss said, quickly leaving. Yang nodded and walked up to her unconscious partner. As she approached, a dripping sound reached her ears. Stepping closer, Yang's eyes fell upon a puddle of dark red underneath the right side of the chair that hadn't been immediately obvious because of the building's poor lighting. Yang's heart skipped a beat as she quickly moved around and saw a long bloody gash running down her right arm.

"Blake…" Yang said, moving back in front of her partner, her bow lying unraveled in her lap along with her left arm. Her left arm was uncut, but far from undamaged as bruises ran down its length. Yang stood there in shock for several seconds before she noticed Blake's chest moving from an unsteady breath. Yang quickly moved to pull out her scroll and send out a warning beacon as the scene changed back to the large room, the White Fang Lieutenant lying on the ground. Anger overcame Yang as she gripped her right hand into a fist and prepared to attack the unconscious man one last time.

Yang's eyes shot open, anger still coursing through her for a few more moments as she adjusted to the new scenery. She was lying in a hospital bed. She immediately tried to move, but she felt great resistance on her left leg. She moved to look and saw it in a cast being restrained in place. "I guess it really was broken." Yang lay back down for several moments, trying to clear her mind of the sight of the White Fang Lieutenant's body lying on the ground in front of her, before trying to reach over to press the nurse call button on the side of the bed. However, she immediately realized something was off, and looked over to see that her prosthetic had been detached. The artificial limb itself was resting on the table next to her, leaving the coupling that was integrated into what was left of her upper arm. The coupling was sealed off with a covering meant to keep anything from getting into the wiring. Yang sighed, and looked at the left side of her bed, seeing the call button resting there. Pressing it, she then lay there in silence for several moments before she heard the door to her room open as a nurse walked in to check on the alert.

"You've woken up?" the nurse asked.

"Yes," Yang said, her mind returning to her dream for a moment, causing her to shake her head to clear it once again.

"Is there anything you want or need?"

"Do you know how Blake is doing?" Yang asked.

"You mean the faunus girl who was brought in with you?"

"Yes."

"She woke up a few hours ago. She checked herself out against medical advice and left alongside your sister and Miss Schnee," the nurse answered. "Your sister is supposed to be called as soon as you wake up, along with General Ironwood." Yang nodded, the movement of her long hair being the only thing that alerted the nurse to the motion. "Is there anything else?"

"I'd like my arm back," Yang said simply.

"I'm sorry, but we can't, we-"

"I know, I know, you want to limit how much energy I'm wasting on anything other than healing," Yang sighed bitterly. "Did you get the covers and detach code from my sister?"

"Yes, ma'am," the nurse answered.

Yang nodded slowly, "That's all."

"I'll go make the calls then." The nurse left the room, and nearly a minute later several nurses and a doctor entered the room and began examining her and asking questions. Yang's mind wandered off in the monotony.

"Yang!" Blake's voice brought Yang's mind back to attention as the black haired woman's face appeared in her range of vision.

"Hi Blake," Yang said as she saw Ruby and Weiss surround her bed as well, all three of them looked extremely relieved. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Blake said. "I've only a few scratches from that stone. How about you?"

"You know me," Yang said, putting on her normal grin as she waved the stump of her right arm around. "This is hardly the worst injury I've ever had." Somehow, Blake didn't look relieved. "So, how long have I been out?"

"Close to sixteen hours at this point," Ruby said.

"Have you learned anything about that woman over that time?" Yang asked, easily able to picture the mask in her mind.

"We have actually," Weiss said. "It seems Jaune and his team have been dealing with her as well in Vale."

"I would question that," Yang said, "but we've seen a lot stranger over the last four years, anything else?"

"We think she might have some connection to the old White Fang," Ruby said.

"That makes sense," Yang said. "Her exact words to me were that as far as she was concerned, the White Fang stopped existing nine years ago."

"That just seals it then," Weiss said. "I'm guessing you just summarized it to Blake earlier." Yang nodded.

"So, has Ironwood talked to you yet?" Ruby asked, feeling more and more relieved by the moment.

"No," Yang answered. "Although I can't be surprised he wants to. It gives a great chance to tell him everything you've found. So, where are my gauntlets?"

"At the nearest police station," Weiss answered.

"And my scroll?"

"Right here," Ruby answered, picking it up from the table next to her, having been hidden from her view behind her arm.

"Thanks," Yang said, accepting the device from her sister.

"Excuse me," a doctor said, entering the room. "You can stay," she said as Ruby and Weiss moved to exit, "I just need to perform a few Aura examinations." She held up a small device that she was holding as she walked over to Yang. Standing next to the blonde woman, she strapped a device around Yang's left wrist.

"Is that an Aura reader?" Weiss asked, unsure of what she was seeing.

"It is," the doctor nodded, "although it's designed to detect Aura stability rather than level. It's common practice after suffering a major wound."

"I know it's common practice," Weiss rebuked. "I was referring to its design, I haven't seen one like that before."

"Yes, well this," she turned the device on, "is an older model. You've probably dealt with newer designs at Outlook," she said, referring to Atlas's school for Huntsmen and Huntresses, "or Beacon," she continued, glancing over at Weiss before looking back at Yang. "They're slightly more effective, but for just general testing, these models are more than adequate." Blake nodded. "Now I need," Yang's arm began glowing with her gold colored Aura, "yes, just like that. Been through this before have we?" Her voice was kind, but her expression, along with her eyes flicking over to the metal arm resting on the table, suggested she knew the answer.

"More than I like to admit," Yang laughed weekly.

"I keep forgetting that your Aura's darkened a bit over the last few years," Ruby said as the glow disappeared. "I keep expecting the lighter yellow from when we were growing up."

"I could say the same thing about you, sis," Yang replied. "Yours has gotten lighter over the last few years."

"Your Auras have changed hues?" the doctor asked, her surprised sounding genuine, as she checked the measurements.

"Yeah," Ruby answered. "I mean, it's hardly an unheard of thing."

"While that's true, it's not exceptionally common among people your age, even among Huntresses. Anyway," the doctor removed the band from around Yang's wrist, "your Aura's stable for now. I'll be back tomorrow to remeasure." Yang nodded, and the doctor excused herself and left the room.

"So, what now?" Weiss asked, moving back to the side of Yang's bed alongside Ruby.

"I guess now to wait for Ironwood," Yang replied.

"That sounds boring," a familiar voice came from the doorway, making the three standing women turn around while Yang tried to crane her neck to get a view of him.

"Wait," Blake said, "aren't you-"

"Beige, what are you doing here?" Weiss said, surprised.

"Some news spreads…. decently fast," Beige said, walking around. He was wearing a disheveled charcoal grey suit, and, Blake and Yang noted, his burn, while looking far from pleasant on screen, looked far worse in person. "I heard a few hours ago about what happened. As soon as I got some free time, I thought I'd come and see if I could meet," he turned to face Yang, "I believe Yang, and," he turned to Blake, "Blake, correct?"

"Yes," Blake said, confused, "how... do you know that?"

"We talked with him yesterday," Ruby said. "So, what all did you hear?"

"Just that some friends of my friends were attacked and hospitalized," Beige answered. "I thought I'd come to hear about the details."

"Yes, well unfortunately that's going to have to wait," Ironwood said, strolling into the room.

"Oh, hello General," Beige said, bowing slightly. His voice was polite, but noticeably unenthused.

"I have some things I need to ask them first," Ironwood said. "If you wish to wait, you'll be allowed to ask yours as well."

"Ah, well, unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to take that offer," Beige shook his head, a disappointed expression on his face. "This is the only free time I'm going to have for a while."

"The campaign trail is a very busy one I see," Ironwood said, raising his eyebrow.

"Hardly surprising," Beige said, pausing at the doorway on his way out. "Well, it was nice to meet the rest of your team, Weiss. And I am glad that they're all going to be fine." With that he left the room, closing the door behind him. While Ironwood began asking Yang and the others questions about what had happened, Beige continued down and out of the hospital.

"Somehow I'm not surprised you're here," a voice stopped him in the lobby.

Beige turned towards the voice. "Ah, Albero, I can't say I am either. So, how's your daughter doing?"

"Penny?" Albero asked. "She's doing fine, better than ever in fact."

"I can't say I'm surprised," Beige said, continuing out of the building and towards the nearest parking structure, "with the backing of the military, she has scientists there to help her at a moment's notice."

"True, true" Albero agreed. "Although there's only so much money can do at this stage."

"Yes, well you're certainly putting it towards a good goal."

Albero laughed, "Yes, well I hardly figured you'd disagree with the added funding. If you win, I expect great things to come from the council."

"Yes, _if_ I win. The jury's still far out on that one. I've only got a month to go until elections, hardly a lot of time to gather support."

"Yes, well, you've been doing a great job so far," Albero pointed out. "And I've certainly seen a lot of stranger turn outs in the past."

Beige smiled and nodded, "Well, as I said, the help has been more than welcome."

"Well, what are old friends for? Or, well, what are old squad mates for?" Albero said.

"Quite a bit apparently," Beige said.

Albero nodded, "So how's Sil doing?"

Beige laughed, fixing a part of his short blonde hair. "I'm not sure if you're around enough anymore to still be allowed to use that nickname."

Albero smiled, "Regardless, humor me."

"She's doing great." Beige said. "Actually, I'm amazed at how much she's supported me on this. She hasn't wanted to have anything to do with government since how they handled…" he trailed off.

"Since how they handled your daughter's death," Albero finished for him, leading Beige to nod slowly. "Honestly, that's probably the reason why she is supporting you so much. If there's anyone she's going to believe can help change things, it's her husband."

"I can honestly say I wouldn't be doing this without her," Beige said.

"Oh really?" Albero asked.

Beige smiled in response. "So, how have things been going for you?" he asked, trying to change the subject. "I've heard there was an attack on the servers."

"There was," Albero said. "A lot of those going around recently."

"You mean DDoS against the SDC?"

"I do," Albero answered, looking around. "Although, just between us, there's an internal investigation going on about the military server attack."

"They suspect it came from an employee?" Beige looked critically at Albero.

"Considering the servers affected were all contained in a single storage unit, and the electronics in said storage unit were also damaged… yes."

"What would do that? Did someone walk into the room with an EMP gun?" Beige asked. "Surely that would have been caught on the security cameras."

"No, an EMP gun would damage more than one unit," Albero said. "They think it was a contained magnetic field."

"Isn't the entire server farm designed to block out magnetic fields?"

"Only the main walls of the room along with the ceiling. Current guess is someone sneaked in a powerful electromagnet."

"Who would have enough time to sneak in an electromagnet that powerful?" Beige looked at Albero amused. "Surely that would require being snuck in as separate parts to cover an entire storage unit."

"I would guess someone with too much time on their hands," Albero laughed. "Although, regardless, there's a search going on in the farm to look for any potential parts that might have been rehidden."

Beige nodded. "That makes sense. Now, I have to ask, that girl Yang up there, did you..."

"That's actually the entire reason I'm here actually," Albero cut him off. "James wants me to take it in and give it a quick look over."

* * *

"It's only been a day," Ozpin said, the sun hanging right above the horizon behind him. "You already have information to report?"

"We think we do," Jaune said. He was alone, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha were waiting outside the office.

Ozpin nodded, "Hold on for a few moments." He pressed several commands on his computer, several windows popping up for a moment before quickly being minimized. "I'm going to record our conversation for future reference." Jaune nodded as Ozpin turned to face him again. "So, Mister Arc, what have you found?" Jaune took a deep breath before beginning to explain what he and his team had found in the residential district, and their conversation with Team RWBY while skipping over the trip to Junior's club. By the time he had finished talking, the sun had finished setting. "So you believe that there are two different women running around Vale, but the one in black is the same one that also attacked Team RWBY in Atlas?" Ozpin asked, speaking for the first time since Jaune started talking.

"We think it's a possibility," Jaune said nervously.

Ozpin nodded, "Go and rest, you can continue to search tomorrow." Jaune nodded and began to leave the room. He paused for a moment at the door before continuing out. Ozpin leaned back in his chair for several moments before sighing. "What do you think?"

"I think you were right about them contacting Team RWBY," Glynda's voice came from the computer.

"It matches what Team RWBY told me," Ironwood said, also in the group call. "It goes perfectly with what Yang was able to tell me after she woke up a few hours ago that none of the other three had been able to. Now if only we had an idea as to who she was."

"I might have an idea," Port said. "She was a student of mine."

"She was?" Glynda asked, surprised.

"Yes," Port answered. "It was a few years before you came back to begin teaching."

"She was also my old teammate, and a close friend," Oobleck said solemnly and slowly, transferring them the file. "It fits everything, the connection to the older White Fang, the area she's most seen in Vale, her interest in protecting the faunus, her Aura color," he sighed, "her emotional state..."

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked.

"The love of her life is long dead," Oobleck paused for a moment before continuing on. "And until now, I thought she was dead as well. I can't even begin to imagine how it's impacted her."

"Oh…" Glynda's voice fell, and she couldn't say much more as she began to read. "You've talked about both Rosa and Amber before, but I never knew you were friends with Ao Mizu."

"I'm far from surprised," Oobleck replied. "Talking about a dead friend is hard enough as it is, talking about one that," he paused. "After her suicide, it was hard to talk about her to even Amber, much less to… well to _anyone_ else. I couldn't even bring myself to so much as even just visit Rosa's grave anymore afterwards."

"All this time, then this comes up," Port said, shaking his head. "I can't imagine what it must be like for you…"

"Honestly," Oobleck said, taking a large swig from his thermos, "I don't know how I should be feeling right now either, I just know I have a lot of work to do."

* * *

"Schnee Dust Company, Eis Schnee's Office," Scarlett answered a phone call while sitting at her desk in the Schnee Dust Company headquarters. "What? Are you sure?... Okay, thank you." Scarlett set the phone down and held her head in her hands for a few minutes before glancing over at the clock. "Twenty minutes, only twenty minutes," she said to herself as a voice came out of the speaker hidden on her desk.

"Scarlett, I need you for a few minutes," Eis Schnee said. Scarlett stood and walked through the door in the back of the room and into Eis' office. The office was large and open with large television screens covering the far wall from the doorway. Eis's desk was sitting to the right of the doorway, in front of a large glass window and doorway leading out to a small balcony looking out over Schnee Plaza with several smaller television screens sitting on the wall to the left of the doorway, across from the desk.

Eis Schnee himself was sitting at his desk, seemingly hunched over a series of papers sitting across it. However, as Scarlett approached, Eis placed his hands on his desk and made a swiping motion across its surface, bringing his hands closer together, closing out of the folder he was accessing, revealing that the entire desktop was a large touchscreen. He then placed a finger on the folder and moved it over to one of the storage drives plugged into the desk on the right side, quickly copying the folder's contents into it. "I need you to take these files down to Marrone in finance, the network troubles have gotten worse today."

Scarlett nodded, the entire company had been having the same issues over the last few days and this was hardly the first time she'd had to deliver files in person in that time, "Yes sir." Eis removed the drive from his desk and handed it to her. Scarlett turned to leave but paused, "Sir?"

"Yes Scarlett?" Eis glanced back up at her, his light blue eyes filled with stress and exhaustion, his white hair and mustache were slightly unkempt, as was his white and blue business suit. His normally unpigmented skin appeared, if anything, slightly whiter than normal, something Scarlett secretly considered impressive given his albinism.

"It's nearing the end of my shift, I was wondering if I could finish working and head home after I take this down." Eis glanced down at the clock on his desk, and nodded. "Thank you, sir." Scarlett smiled and exited the room, grabbing her purse, and glancing out the window while she waited for the elevator. While Eis' office had a view of the plaza, Scarlett's office had a decent sized window behind her desk giving a view of the surrounding buildings around the side, and provided an overhead view of the skyways connecting the two Schnee Company buildings sitting on either side of the main road heading north off of the plaza.

"Oh, hello Scarlett," a friendly voice said when the elevator doors opened.

"Hello Winter," Scarlett said, turning to face the seventeen year old girl, who very much so resembled her father and sister. Her face was slightly thinner than her sister's, but not quite as angular as their father's. Her hair, while far shorter than her sister's, was also notably longer than her father's, although it wasn't immediately obvious given that it was tied up into a tight bun, with the only hint to its true length being her bangs, which were grown and cut in a way that covered the right side of her face and extending down several inches past her chin. The most notable difference between her and the rest of her family was her height. She easily towered over her sister, something Scarlett suspected came from the girl's mother. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, her hair, skin, and eye colors were all identical to her father and sister. "It's rather late for you to be visiting."

"Yes, well, my class workload was heavier than normal," Winter said, walking towards the doorway into Eis' office.

"Your father's workload has been much the same lately," Scarlett said, stepping into the elevator.

"I'm aware," Winter said. "He hasn't been home all week."

Scarlett nodded as the elevator doors began to close. "Take care." Winter nodded in response. The elevator's glass walls gave another view of the plaza from above, prompting Scarlett to turn around and face inward towards the building as she always did. She rode the elevator down three floors before exiting out and walking across the skyway that connected right next to where the elevators were situated. Scarlett hugged the railings of the skyway. She'd never liked heights, and could only just manage them while looking out a window. Because of this, she was always paranoid that the clear flooring of the skyways would give way regardless of how often she made use of them. As soon as she made it across to the other building, she immediately called the elevator and rode it down to the floor where the finance department was situated, staring inward toward the building yet again as she did so. "What brings you down here, Scarlett?" a man asked when she entered the area.

"A delivery from Eis," Scarlett answered, pulling out the drive.

"And here I was thinking it was me," he lamented in an exaggerated manner as he grabbed it and inserted it into his computer.

"Not today, Marrone," Scarlett teased back. "And I'm going to be busy tonight too."

"Ah," Marrone said, "I would say that's too bad, but it looks like I'm going to be hung up on these files for a bit. Tomorrow then?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Scarlett said turning to leave. "I'll meet you here." Marrone nodded. Scarlett returned to the elevator and rode it down to the bottom floor. As soon as she stepped outside, she glanced up at the twin SDC buildings that mirrored each at the northern end of plaza before turning towards the pathway between the two buildings. Despite the skyways between the buildings being clear, the sheer number of them cast the area north of the buildings into partial shadow. However, as dusk approached, the area was dark regardless and was already being lit by the numerous street lights.

Scarlett quickly moved down the street and entered the company parking structure, and quickly reached her car. Being the personal secretary for Eis Schnee himself, her parking space was close to the entrance, the only spaces closer being reserved for the members of the Schnee family themselves. As she sat in her car, she pulled out her scroll and quickly scrolled through her contact list. "And I don't have her number, note to self, get that." Scarlett said to herself as she placed her scroll back into her purse and quickly drove the car out of the structure and started driving through the streets towards her destination. A number of thoughts ran through her mind as she drove onward. Eventually she reached her destination, the sun having set completely while she was on her way. She found a place to park and hurried inside and over to the call terminal in the building's lobby.

"Hi Scarlett," Weiss said, sounding surprised. "Just come on up, I'll authenticate you." Scarlett nodded and walked into the elevator and rode it to the top floor where Weiss was waiting next to the open door. "Scarlett, you're lucky we were here. Blake and Yang were attacked."

"I heard," Scarlett said, walking in, "that's the entire reason I'm here."

"You hear- Does my father know?" Weiss asked.

"I didn't mention it to him," Scarlett answered.

"Good," Weiss said, sounding relieved. "But if you heard, how did you know we would be here?"

"I didn't," Scarlett answered honestly. "I just took a chance and it worked out." Scarlett looked around the room and recognized Ruby sitting on the couch, but not the cat eared faunus woman sitting next to her staring at a scroll. "You must be Blake," she guessed going off the descriptions she'd heard of her from Weiss.

"I-I am," Blake said, looking up at the older woman. "Who're you?"

"My name's Scarlett," she held out her hand to Blake.

"She's a family friend," Weiss explained quickly. Blake nodded, shaking Scarlett's hand.

"That explains quite a bit," Blake said to herself.

"Where's Yang?" Scarlett asked, looking around the living room.

"Still in the hospital," Ruby answered, as Blake looked back at her scroll.

"Her leg is broken," Weiss explained, for what felt like the one hundredth time that day. "So, why did you come all the way here? Why didn't you just call?"

"Well, my first instinct after work was to call," Scarlett admitted, "but, I don't have your number."

"Oh," Weiss said, surprised. "Hang on a moment," she walked over to the stairs and climbed them while Scarlett took a seat that Ruby offered for her.

"So, uh, Blake, Scarlett's actually the personal secretary to Weiss's dad," Ruby said. Blake nodded slowly, not responding directly through a combination of not completely registering what Ruby had said, and not wanting to take part in the conversation.

"Which normally means just filtering calls and visitors, but has kept me on the move recently," Scarlett added, not sure of how to interpret Blake's response.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, used to Blake's reaction to being around people she doesn't know.

"The Company Headquarters have been having network issues the last few days. Some of the IT workers have been saying it's a low level DDoS attack focused against the company servers using up all the bandwidth."

"D-dos?" Ruby asked, confused by the term.

"Basically a large number of computers are all sending a lot of traffic to a network or computer to grind their ability to work to a halt," Blake explained, still not looking away from her scroll.

"I'm not sure I want to know how you know that," Weiss said, walking back down the stairs.

"Oh," Ruby said. "That sou-" she was cut off by her scroll ringing. Ruby smiled, "I'm sorry, this is a call I promised to take earlier." She stood and walked away, answering as she climbed the stairs. "Hi Scarlet."

"Scarlet?" Scarlett asked. "Is that the boy you told me about the last time I was here?"

"He is," Weiss said as Blake began typing on her scroll. "And here's my contact info," Weiss held out her scroll to show Scarlett all the ways to get in touch with her.

"So what happened exactly?" Scarlett asked, worry crossing her face.

Weiss took a deep breath, "All I'm willing to say is that there's someone very dangerous wearing a full faced Grimm mask with blue markings in town." Blake's scroll beeped with a new message, prompting her to groan slightly, but didn't stop the smile on her face. "I'm guessing Yang made another pun," Weiss said seeing the reaction.

"Yeah, she asked for me to give her a hand," Blake answered. "Especially since Ironwood took her first one away." Weiss shook her head a bit.

"Does she make a lot of puns?" Scarlett asked, not registering the second part of what Blake had just said.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Weiss answered. "Although you get used to them."

"You learn to manage them," Blake corrected, beginning to type out a return message on her scroll.

* * *

While the sun had set in Atlas, far to the west, the sun was still hanging high in the sky above. "Adam." The bull horned man looked up at the one who had spoken. It was another man whose face was covered in a round Grimm Mask that had dark grey patches that covered his cheeks while still exposing his mouth and jaw, standard issue among the general soldiers of the White Fang, as was the uniform he was wearing. "We found them. They made the mistake of coming here to hide." Adam nodded and stood before staring out of the window. The midday sun was beating down on the desert city, bathing it in intense heat. The lighter colors of the city helped to reduce the heat, but made many of the buildings hard to look at. Hanging in the sky above the city's harbor was Amity Colosseum. "Ironically, they felt that Vacuo would be a safe place to hide from us."

"Where are they?" Adam asked simply after a few moments.

"They were spotted near the docks. They may have realized this isn't the safest place to hide after all and and may be trying to escape elsewhere, probably Mistral. We've got men following them as well as several watching the docks to make sure they don't make it aboard any ship without notice should they escape their followers."

Adam nodded again, "Bring them to the compound."

The other man paused, "You don't want them killed, sir?"

"I want them dead more than anything else, but I have other plans in mind," Adam said turning to face the other man. The man bowed and left the room. Adam walked over to a nearby table, the sight of his old mask causing him to fill with a variety of emotions as the memories flooded back to him.

"Adam!" Blake called out as he grabbed the remains of the back end of the train's caboose as it continued to disintegrate, the fire spreading through the car continually weakening the old wooden structure. Blake reached out towards him, her hand closing in on where he was holding. Adam began to reach out towards her as well, weakening his own grip on the paneling he was holding onto. Feeling himself slipping, he grabbed the paneling again, and Blake's hand paused at the extent of her reach. Adam began to reach forward again as the paneling began to give way, causing it to begin falling. Adam put all his energy into throwing himself upwards trying to grab Blake's hand. However, before he could reach it, her hand pulled away, causing him to fall onto the ground and roll around uncontrollably, his Aura fading quickly.

Adam slammed his fists onto the table in anger, before removing the mask he was wearing. He hadn't worn his old mask since that day, instead he'd been wearing a full face mask that he used to show his newfound position of power within the White Fang. His newfound position of absolute power as the one in charge of the entire organization after Cinder had been dealt with. However, now was not the time to show his power. Instead now was the time to make sure they knew who they had crossed immediately. Adam set his new mask on the table and picked up his old one and placed it over his face for the first time in months before beginning to make preparations for the coming night.

"They're ready for you," the man from earlier reported to Adam after night had fallen over Vacuo.

"Thank you, Rowan," Adam said. "I'll head out in a few minutes."

"Yes, sir," Rowan answered, leaving the room.

Adam grabbed Wilt and Blush, set them on his hip, and exited the building. Few people were out at night in this part of the city willingly. Despite Vacuo being notorious for its year round heat, the temperature would also drop rapidly during the night. In some areas of the region, the middle of summer would lead to pleasant, mild nights. However, this was not true for the area of the city that the White Fang was hidden in. The designs of the buildings and the streets were made from an outdated design to reflect as much heat away during the day as possible. While it kept the area from becoming excessively hot during the day, at night the lack of heat radiating from the surrounding ground and buildings caused the temperatures to drop far enough to be considered cold, especially for the residents of the city, something few of said residents were willing to put up with.

This, however, was perfect for an organization that wished to hide under the cover of night, for most of the members were used to the colder temperatures of the other Kingdoms, especially those of Vale. In addition, the older designs also meant that security was far more lax in the area as well, with cameras being few and far between, as well all being situated in obvious areas. This combined with the spacious designs of the streets, meant Adam was able to travel the route he'd taken countless times since the White Fang had taken up hiding in the area without fear of being detected. It was a safe route that he himself had plotted out and was nearly a direct way of reaching his destination, requiring only two detours to reach. His destination was a large, old storage building deep in the city that the White Fang had refurbished and effectively completely rebuilt from within to change it into a compound for their use. As soon as he stepped inside the building, several soldiers stepped forward to help him. Brushing them off, Adam walked through the facility to the room he already knew his visitors would be held in. The moment he reached the door, he felt himself grimacing, an expression that only worsened when he opened the door and laid eyes on the people inside.

"You son of a-" Emerald began yelling and charging at him as soon as he stepped inside, her words only cut off by a dagger being raised to her neck by one of the two soldiers guarding them, and her movements halted by the chains binding her to the back wall. "You're supposed to be dead!" she continued through gritted teeth after several moments. Her words were met with the dagger being brought even closer to her throat.

"You know," Mercury said, "I could have told you that would have happened if you'd mentioned that you were going to charge our captor." He was resting on the ground, his prosthetic legs resting against a far wall outside his or Emerald's reach.

"Oh, shut up," Emerald said as she stepped backwards, both to loosen the chains pulling against her, and to get away from the dagger. "You're a traitor you know that!? A traitor and a murderer!" she yelled back towards Adam.

"A traitor to whom?" Adam asked, his voice was cold. "To Cinder Fall? She knew full well what the White Fang fights for, and she used that to try and fulfill her own revenge. If there's any traitor here, it's her, and the two of you."

"So you killed her!" Emerald yelled accusingly. "You killed her because she tried to change who you fought!"

"I did not kill Cinder," Adam said, anger entering his voice. "I merely made sure she was out of the picture."

"You killed her! Even if you didn't use your own hands, she's dead because of you!" Emerald continued yelling, her emotions beginning to run wild. "You're still a murderer!"

"If I am a murderer," Adam said, his voice returning to its original cold tone, "then what does that make the two of you? I fought, and I continue to fight, for a purpose. What do you fight for? All you ever did was what Cinder told you, or what you thought would make her happy. If you have the gall to call me a murderer, than you'd best have the ability to call yourself one as well. You have no right to claim any kind of moral high ground over me."

"He's got a point," Mercury said.

Emerald let out a yell of anger before lapsing into silence. After nearly a minute she looked back at Adam, hatred clear in her eyes. "I may be a murderer, but at least I don't hide behind my supposed war for justice!"

Adam quickly unsheathed Wilt and held it up to Emerald's throat in a single motion. "Everything I do," his voice was murderous, "I do for my brethren. I do not kill anyone that could be an ally, or anyone struggling to achieve the same goal I do."

"Coming from someone who has no problems with throwing away the lives of train workers," Emerald said defiantly. "Or am I wrong about why your old friend Blake abandoned you."

Adam pressed the blade against Emerald's throat, her Aura too weak to prevent it from making contact, something the guards in the room had been more than happy to ensure. "Schnee workers would hardly work alongside us."

"And Ozpin would?" Emerald asked. "Last time I checked, his huntsmen were the ones standing against you the most of all."

"Beacon may not be our allies, but they are hardly our enemies," Adam said, taking a step back, and quickly resheathing Wilt. "Huntsmen have always been the forefront of equality within the Kingdom of Vale, as well as the other Kingdoms."

"As if you care about equality," Emerald growled.

"And, yet," Adam continued, ignoring her comment, "Cinder wished to destroy them for a personal gain. She wished to end a system that worked to the White Fang's interests, even if it is indirectly. That, unfortunately for her, meant that she was both our enemies in the end."

"So you killed her and came hiding here," Emerald said. "How honorable. For someone who claims to agree with the Huntsmen system, you sure haven't tried making it up to them."

"Well, Beacon does work, mostly, within the law," Mercury said. "Unlike the White Fang, unlike us."

"You're not helping," Emerald growled.

"I'm just waiting for what he's keeping us alive for," Mercury said. "He's already stated that he kills those who work against the White Fang's goals. We did just that for four years without them even knowing until close to the end of it, and yet we're still alive."

Adam smiled, "Clever boy. Yes I do have plans for you. And all of that relies on one simple fact."

"And what would that be?" Emerald demanded.

"While the White Fang's connection to Cinder may be well known, your own connections are not. In fact, I believe no one the authorities would listen to other than us know just how connected you were. I'm sure they'd be pleased to have more than just Roman Torchwick's word."

"And that's going to help you how?" Emerald demanded.

"Because you can continue to do the very thing you did over the last four years, blend in," Adam answered. "Although not among Huntsmen, no, you'll be blending in among someone we're actually working against this time."

"And that would be?" Mercury demanded.

"Simple," Adam answered,"unless the both of you wish to die by my hand right here and now, or," he paused thinking it over," better yet, I could leave you to the authorities after exposing your crimes and treachery." Seeing the expressions crossing both his prisoner's faces, Adam smiled, "Good, that means you'll be helping us work against the Schnee Dust Company."

**A/N4: F'ing time zones, how do they work? Well, they're fairly straightforward actually, but that doesn't stop them from being annoying. So, for quick reference, more so my own, but regardless. Vacuo is 8 hours behind Vale, Atlas is 1 hour ahead of Vale, and Mistral is 8 hours ahead of Atlas. Also, there's the fact that it's summer, so the sun would set notably later in the northern Kingdom of Atlas than it would in the central Kingdom of Vale.**

**A/N5: And, the second note that's more for my benefit depending on where I take the next chapter. This fic covers about 35-40 hours of time (very quick estimate, don't judge me… you're still judging me aren't you?). It starts out at night on Tuesday Vale/Atlas time(s), and Wednesday morning the next day Mistral time, then transitions into Wednesday Vale/Atlas times and then eventually into that night. In Mistral, this goes from that morning, to that night, and then into Thursday morning. While this happens, it transfers the POV over to Vacuo where it's Wednesday morning, where it then transitions into that night, where it would be Thursday morning in Vale/Atlas, and would be midday Thursday in Mistral. TL;DR: Late Tuesday night to early Thursday morning in Atlas/Vale.**

**A/N6: So, this fic had been stewing around in my head for a month before I started putting it to paper. In that time, it's gone through a number of changes from its original form. I bring this up, because the original vision of this fic would have had it pick up immediately after the end of Volume 2, right with the scene where Yang is talking with Raven in the dream, yes I think it's actually a dream. Because of that, I would have had our "mystery" woman, henceforth referred to as MW in these notes, making an appearance to defend a faunus from the White Fang attack as her introduction. I even had a story formed where Cinder would quickly be taken down, only for the MW to take over as the antagonist. However, about a week and a half after this fic entered my mind, it underwent a change into a form where it's a post Beacon/post Cinder story where the MW is introduced immediately.**

**A/N7: Too damn many Author's Notes...**

**A/N8-P: I'm going to use the -P (Post) to mark notes added in after a chapter's been up for a while, and with that, I have the actual note to go with it. Since I edited a previous chapter to make things concerning Rosa a little more blatant, the scene with Oobleck just didn't work as well, so I rewrote it to make a little more sense.**


	7. Looking to the Future

**A/N1: So, the title of this fic may change when Chapter 8 goes up, I'm not sure. The current title is just the first thing that came to mind when I uploaded the first chapter, and I'm not the most excited about it (I don't consider myself good at naming things), and I've had a few other names coming to my mind the last few days, so just a warning.**

**A/N2: I'm actually sad I couldn't get this out on April 1st for Rooster Teeth's 12th anniversary, but life got in the way… as did Red vs Blue Season 13, if you haven't seen the first or second episodes yet, leave this page now and go watch it, I don't care, they're awesome, I've already watched the first one three times and the second one twice. Miles has yet to disappoint me when it comes to the story for the Chorus Trilogy, and I seriously look forward to see how the end of it plays out. Although, I'll not deny being biased, I'm a far bigger RvB fan than I am a RWBY fan afterall. Anyway, moving on…**

**A/N3-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. If you've already read a chapter with this message on it, then go on, if not, for the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

"Thanks Ruby," Scarlet said, leaning back in his chair in a Cross Continental Transmit Tower in Mistral, "and I hope that things start looking up soon."

"Yeah, so do I," Ruby sighed. She sounded tired.

"You should probably go get some rest," Scarlet said, "we've, uh, we've been here for a while."

"Nearly an hour, yeah," Ruby said, "I guess I'll talk to you some other time."

"Yeah, I look forward to it," Scarlet said, ending the call. He leaned back and rubbed the part of his face that his hair didn't cover. "Why do we always wind up out of the loop on these things?" He stood and exited out of the building, and walked through the streets of the temperate city. Instead of the main highways, he took the side roads and alleys, knowing his way around from having grown up in the area. He made his way past numerous streets and buildings, crossing across a decent chunk of the city, before finally reaching his teammates.

"Hey, man, we were about to send out a search party," Neptune said as Scarlet joined back up with the rest of his team outside a large monolith like building. "So, how are Blake and Yang doing?"

"They're doing fine," Scarlet answered, taking a seat in one of the benches in the small open area, the rest of his team sitting as well. "Although, what did you expect? They're hardly helpless."

"So," Sun asked, his voice low, "what all's been going on?"

"It's quite a tale really," Scarlet said. "Reminds me of when we first went to Vale."

"In what way?"

"In that there's a lot going on that I had to find out about afterwards," Scarlet answered, causing Sage let out a short laugh, knowing the feeling as well.

"Although, this time, at least the two of you are with us," Sage said, trying not to laugh again.

* * *

"Is there anywhere you can think of that would be important to her?" Ozpin asked, leaning back in his chair as he was still in a group call with Goodwitch, Port, and Oobleck, half an hour had elapsed since Jaune left.

"Two," Oobleck answered, nodding his head slowly, his eyes staring off into the distance. "Unfortunately, they're both located underground in Mountain Glenn."

"Didn't Jaune also say that they found info on the other woman with the red mask started showing up after Mountain Glenn closed down?" Glynda asked, mentally reviewing Jaune's report.

"He did," Port confirmed. "I believe that Team RWBY's first encounter with that specific woman was also at Mountain Glenn."

"It was," Oobleck confirmed. "Miss Xiao Long's after action report following the breach their first year mentioned her during the battle aboard the train, that woman saved her from Torchwick's henchwoman."

"Well, then, it seems an obvious solution would be to visit Mountain Glenn. That's hardly a problem," Ozpin said, pulling up several files. "Most of the first years have already returned from their end of year missions, but the few still out are set to return tomorrow, early in the morning in fact. A bullhead can easily be used to get you to the above ground ruins."

"What?" Oobleck quickly adjusted his gaze to stare at the headmaster.

"If you feel that checking the areas would be useful, then it can easily be arranged for you to visit," Ozpin explained. "You can even bring Team JNPR with you if you feel the extra eyes would be useful." Oobleck nodded earnestly. "I'll start arranging things now then. You should be ready to go around nine-thirty, maybe ten. I'll send you the details when I'm sure."

"Thank you," Oobleck said, exiting the call and leaning back in his chair, not looking around his office. Not surprising to his students, nor to anyone who knew him, it was a large mess. Papers and books were scattered haphazardly all around the room, and his desk was the worst of all, with only a small part of one of the corners of the desk even coming close to being considered clean. Sitting on it was a frame holding an old picture that Oobleck picked up and stared at. It was of him and Mizu when the two of them had been ten, they'd been taken to an Ao family company party, and, as such, a large number of people in suits and dresses could be seen in the background. Oobleck sighed nostalgically. While he had a preference for digital pictures, he couldn't bring himself to transfer this one to his scroll, for it had been a gift from Mizu's family after they'd moved out of the weapons business. Setting down the picture and shaking his head, Oobleck took to his feet, and made his way out of his office and down to the school grounds. Due to the combination of both the time of day and date of year, the grounds were almost entirely empty as the fourth year students had already graduated and third year students had finished exams and gone home. Of the first and second years, only the latter were entirely on campus, and most of them were preparing for their own exams the following week. However, that didn't stop him from being delayed on the way to his destination.

"Oh, Doctor Oobleck, I was going to visit your office tomorrow, I have a few questions I want to ask before your final exam," a student asked when he was walking through the main courtyard.

"Oh, uh, yes, of course, ask away," Oobleck said, stopping, secretly both glad and annoyed for the distraction.

"It's about the Great War," the student said, pulling out his scroll.

"That phrase means different things to different people, you're going to have to get more specific than that," Oobleck explained. "Are you referring to the Faunus Rights Revolution, or the War of Self Expression, as both are going to be covered on the exam."

"Oh, uh, I was referring to the revolution," the student answered, showing Oobleck several images on his scroll. "I was curious about how it led to the founding of the White Fang, because their old logo creeps up in images from throughout the war."

"The White Fang's original logo, a white circle surrounding a white wolf head, wasn't made for the White Fang so much as it was adopted by it," Oobleck said, his voice reaching its normal, nearly unintelligible, rate. "The White Fang's name comes from an old faunus folk tale, and their original logo was an old image used on the cover of the story's original printed versions, however after the White Fang took on the logo for their organization, the logo's connection to the story has been all but forgotten to most people."

"Thank you, doctor," the student started, "also I was-"

"In addition," Oobleck continued, letting his mind monologue out info, a habit he'd had for as long as he could remember that helped him to both think and to relax, "the White Fang's current logo was designed as an intentional corruption of their old logo, originally formed by trailing lines of oil over a painting of their old logo outside their original world headquarters in Atlas. It was then set ablaze when they declared their change of nature for all to see. Around two or three years later, they formed their own version of the Schnee Dust Company logo, again out of oil, and burned it as well as a declaration of their intent to change them as they'd changed themselves. Since then…" he began to trail off, "since then, burning oil symbols has been a tradition within the organization as a declaration of their intent to change the associated group. Now," Oobleck paused, "if you want to ask anymore questions, I'll happily answer them in the coming days, but for now, I have to be somewhere, and I won't be in my office tomorrow."

"Oh," the student said, still recovering from the surprise from Oobleck's suddenly somber tone, "sure thing, thank you, uh, thank you, doctor." The student walked off, letting Oobleck continue onward, pausing in one of the gardens, a blue poppy patch next to a large pool of water having caught his attention. He stooped down and picked the flower, before continuing on until he was behind the campus's large central tower.

Behind the tower was something rarely spoken of on campus, yet well known to all who attend or had ever attended the academy. It was a large graveyard where numerous Huntsmen and Huntresses were buried, something few ever refused when presented the option, and fewer still had families go against their wishes after they'd passed on. It was considered to be a great honor to be buried on the campus grounds, alongside both ones old teammates and many other fierce and great warriors and heroes. Oobleck made his way down one of the pathways between the numerous thin white tombstones, every single one of which was labelled with the deceased's name, team name from their time at Beacon, the dates of their birth and death, and an engraving of their personal symbol. Oobleck continued on until he came across the plots he'd been looking for and stopped in between two graves, one labelled with a heart shaped flower, and the other with with a wave enveloping the moon. Oobleck averted his eyes, unable to bring himself to read his friend's names on the graves, instead he walked onto the plot between the two of them, the one he knew was reserved for himself, and sat down, staring over at the grave to his left.

"It's been... a long time since I've been able to bring myself here," he spoke slowly as he held up the poppy. "Life is… interesting sometimes, although I'm sure you're fully aware of that, yours certainly was." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I know that despite some of the impressions you gave other people, your favorite color isn't blue, nor was it ever, but I just couldn't help but pick it on the way here." He set the flower down at the base of the tombstone. "Part of me hopes that I'm wrong about everything that's happening, but…" he sighed, "part of me, deep down, wants it to turn out to be true." He shook his head as he lay down, "It's just been so long that it's been assumed she was dead too." He let out a cold laugh, as he looked over at the grave on the other side of where he was lying, which was labelled, but empty. "I'd come to terms with it, I'd learned to be happy again without the both of you in my life anymore, but… if she's still here, still alive, I'd love to see her again. I know Amber would too, but not like this," Oobleck paused even longer than he had before, "I suppose… I suppose I should catch you up on what I've been up to. I know Amber's probably kept you up to date on what's been happening, but it's just… it's just been so long, and I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to come back…"

* * *

When the morning came, a knock on the door caused all four members of Team JNPR to startle awake from their sleep. Jaune climbed out of bed and walked over to open the door of the room they'd been staying in. "Uh, hello Doctor Oobleck," Jaune said, surprised by the visit.

"Good morning, Mister Arc," Oobleck said at his normal fast pace. "Prepare your team, we set off in two hours."

"Set off, uh, where?" Jaune asked, still trying to fully awaken.

"To Mountain Glenn, meet me in front of the main statue at ten," Oobleck answered before quickly dashing off.

"O-okay," Jaune said, stunned by the older man's sudden departure. He turned back to see the others already climbing out of bed, having overheard the brief conversation. Two hours later, the team met up with Oobleck in front of the statue. "So, why are we heading to Mountain Glenn?"

"Our mysterious woman," Oobleck said. "Both of them actually."

The four younger Huntsmen looked among themselves. "We know that the red masked woman has some connection to it," Pyrrha said, "but we haven't heard anything about the other one having a connection to it."

"That's because I have," Oobleck said, turning around, "or, more accurately, I've dealt with her in Mountain Glenn myself."

"You've met her?" Nora asked, her natural energy already making her move around quickly.

"Yes, although I didn't know it at the time," Oobleck said. "This happened when the city was still populated, back when I was a student. Now, let's get going," Oobleck hurried off, leaving the four young adults behind, still processing what he had said. The four of them walked up to the only airship present at the school's air docks, and climbed inside, joining Oobleck, who was checking through several files on his scroll. As the airship took off, the teammates looked between each other, unsure of what to say about what Oobleck had told them, however, the teacher didn't need to be coerced. "I'm sure you're all curious about the details of how I met her, and I promise that I'll tell you when we get to where we need."

"And where do we need to go?" Ren asked, as the airship passed over the wall of the city.

"There are two places, actually," Oobleck said, pulling up a map of the abandoned city, and showing it to the team. "The first is a hotel we can give a quick look over, and the second, and more important place, is an auditorium near the old train station in the city. Both of them are underground. In addition, the train tunnel that used to lead to Vale, where Team RWBY met the other woman, is also underground and we will visit that after the auditorium."

The four of them nodded, and several minutes passed in silence. "So, how many times have you been to Mountain Glenn?" Pyrrha asked, trying to pass the time.

"More times than I care to count," Oobleck said, putting his scroll away. "My first time there was as a mission my first year. Afterwards, it became a common place for my team to visit for the weekend during the rest of our time at Beacon. After graduation, my work would occasionally bring me to the city, but after I started working towards my doctorate, I was kept busy and could only visit it a few times before it was closed off. After I began teaching, I've visited the above ground ruins numerous times on missions, some with students, others without."

"It must be important to you then," Ren said.

"It is, even when it was still open and running, it was making history by the day, and it was a marvel of a city being underground. Being that only one member of my team was from Vale, we were interested in it to say the least. There are many things I wish had turned out differently in the city's history, but there are two that stand out above the others. The first is that I wish I could have seen it when the aboveground city was still in use, and the second is that the underground city had not been forced to be closed off. But even now, decrepit and full of tragedy as it is, it has many things it can still teach us so that we may proceed better in the future. What about the four of you? Have you ever been to the ruins before now?"

All four of them shook their heads. "We've heard Ruby and the others talk about it," Jaune answered, " and you've brought it up in classes, but we've never been there ourselves."

Oobleck nodded, "Unfortunate that it has taken this long. I believe that all of Beacon's students should visit the ruins during their time as students for it has so much to teach you. Unfortunately, there are so many students, and only so many missions that take you beyond the walls of the Kingdom to begin with, much less to Mountain Glenn." As he finished speaking, the airship began to descend on the edge of the ruins, which lead to Oobleck jumping out onto the wide street beneath them. The other four Huntsmen quickly followed him out, landing around the green haired man. "This way," Oobleck said, hurrying off. He left the four others behind quickly for a moment before hurrying back. "Quickly now," and with that, he set back off again, pausing at a fork in the road to wait for them to catch up, only to set off in a different direction the moment they reached him, repeating the process until they reached a large central building in the city.

"So, where are we going?" Nora asked, holding Magnhild in front of her just waiting for an excuse to make use of it. "I thought you said that the areas we were going to visit are underground."

"They are underground," Oobleck answered, pausing in front of a large old building. "However, there are only so many ways to get down there, and among them, only one comes close to still being safe." He then walked inside the building they were standing in front of.

"This is a, uh, safe way down?" Jaune asked, looking around at the rotting building.

"No," Oobleck answered, pulling out a small vial of Dust from his pocket, "like I said, there's only one that comes even close to being safe, but none of them are actually safe anymore."

"Well that's… unnerving," Jaune mumbled to himself as Oobleck scattered the yellow Dust around a seemingly random patch of flooring. "Uh, doctor, what are you doing?" Oobleck answered by triggering the Dust, a slight crackling of electricity filling the air almost immediately. Oobleck backed away as part of the ground began moving apart. A high pitched whining noise filled the air as a piece of machinery refused to budge from down below, the noise becoming even louder for a moment as the left side of the opening floor stopped moving prematurely while the right side continued on, only stopping when the sounds of machinery stopped altogether, at least for a moment. Almost immediately, a different whining noise echoed up from down below for nearly a minute, as yet another machine refused to operate correctly after more than a decade without maintenance.

Oobleck turned to see the bewildered faces of the four younger Huntsmen. "When the city moved underground, they made sure there was a way to get back to the surface so that Huntsmen would be able to travel up top easily in the hope that one day the old city would be cleared of Grimm." With that, he jumped down, the sound of his body landing on a metallic surface quickly echoing out of the hole. "Unfortunately," his voice quickly echoed out following the noise of his landing, "it seems that the elevator has finally given way. No problem really, plenty of ladders and stairs down here."

The members of Team JNPR looked between each other before shrugging and jumping in after Oobleck, Nora taking the lead giggling the entire way down. They fell maybe fifteen feet before landing in what was clearly an old, roofless, elevator. "So, now we're in the underground part of the city?" Jaune asked, as they walked over towards Oobleck, who was standing next to a doorway. He was using his torch to light up the room.

"Yes, specifically the top floor of the central tower that also helps support the ceiling of the cave," Oobleck nodded, before walking through the doorway, and began descending a large staircase.

"So, this building helps keep the large roof up?" Jaune asked, making sure he heard right as the five of them walked down so many flights of stairs that Jaune had quickly lost count.

"Yes, it was built out of the best and most resilient materials available at the time to ensure that it continued standing for a very long time even if proper checks couldn't be done on time," Oobleck answered, pausing to clear a large mass of cobwebs before continuing back on. "Considering that the city's been abandoned for slightly more than one and a half decades at this point, it clearly worked." Jaune nodded, and the group made their way to the bottom of the stairs and out of the building in silence, except for Nora, whose very presence seemed to give off a low pitched noise. The sight outside was unnerving to say the least, as every building was in an advanced state of disrepair. However, unlike the aboveground city, where all of the buildings were skeletal, down below, the buildings were only missing their upper few floors, while otherwise appeared normal, and indeed, the building that seemed the most intact was the central tower they'd just exited.

Oobleck lead them to a nearby building that indeed looked somewhat like an old hotel on the outside. On the inside, it was was far more obvious, as they entered what had clearly been an old lobby. "Just being here makes me feel uneasy," Pyrrha said. "It didn't bother me so much outside or above ground because it was so disrepaired, but here," she shook her head, "this room would look like any other lobby with a quick paint job and some proper lighting."

Oobleck nodded, "It was a fairly nice looking hotel when it was up and running, but years of disrepair tend to make things lose their luster." He then walked over to a nearby staircase and walked up to the sixth floor, Team JNPR following close behind him.

"Do you have a specific room in mind to check?" Jaune asked, as they exited the stairs onto the main hallway. Oobleck merely nodded as he continued to walk. As they walked down the hallway, Jaune looked through one of the now doorless doorways to check inside of the room. It was filled with rotted furniture, and the doorway leading into the bathroom was lying in pieces on the floor behind it. From what he could see of the bathroom, it was in no better state, with the pole that would have held the shower curtain resting within the discolored bathtub. The windows, while intact, were covered in so much dust that they were no longer transparent.

Oobleck continued down until he stopped at a room whose door was still, mostly, intact, the only damage being on the doorsill. "Room 6...19?" Pyrrha asked, trying to read the degraded plaque on the doorway. Oobleck nodded, and forced the door open. The room beyond it was, if anything, worse than the one that Jaune had peered into on the way over to it. The look of disappointment on Oobleck's face was nearly impossible to miss, even at a glance. "Were you expecting to find anything?"

Oobleck shook his head slowly, "Expecting, no, I wasn't expecting to find anything here. I was, however, hoping that I would."

"So, should we head to the auditorium now?" Ren asked, speaking up for the first time since they'd arrived in the city. Oobleck nodded, and set off, leading by a decent margin the entire way out of the building and through the streets. They walked for longer than any of the five of them knew, Oobleck not caring about how much time passed, and Team JNPR quickly losing track due to the relative darkness that filled the entire cavern, the only lights, other than Oobleck's torch, coming from small holes in the rocky ceiling, which was only enough to leave the cavern in a state of twilight. Oobleck continued walking before stopping dead at a seemingly random place on one of the large streets. Without a word, he turned and entered a nearby building, leaving the four young Huntsmen back on the street, confused.

"This isn't... can't be the auditorium, right?" Jaune asked, wanting reassurance that he hadn't misread the map Oobleck had shown them earlier. Pyrrha and Ren shook their heads. Nora didn't respond as her entire body was shaking from an overabundance of energy, something that didn't surprise any of them given that it was Nora, and she had been expecting to kill Grimm, which was something they hadn't run into so far. The four of them walked inside and found themselves in what looked to have been a restaurant, Oobleck nowhere in sight from the entranceway, causing the four of them to walk farther into the old building, and found the green haired man sitting in a booth quietly, his torch condensed back into a thermos, the only light in the room coming from his scroll resting on the table and what little streamed through the old window.

"Doctor Oobleck?" Pyrrha asked kindly, none of them taking a seat across from him. He didn't respond to her words, prompting her to repeat herself louder. "Doctor Oobleck?"

He jumped in response to her call, "Oh, sorry, sorry…" He sounded as if he was far off from them.

"Is this place important?" Nora asked cheerily.

"Yes," Oobleck nodded, "but not so much as for her as it is for me."

"I'm sure she finds it important too," a female voice said behind them, causing everyone other than Oobleck, and Ren, to jump. Walking towards the group was a woman who appeared to be Oobleck's age, a tired expression on her face. She was wearing a short sleeved black shirt, with long black pants that had numerous orange highlights on them, with an orange symbol on her shirt that appeared to be a pair of mirrored gemstones. Her black hair reached down to her shoulderblades and had a series of orange highlights throughout, matching her outfit. She walked past the surprised group, and took a seat in the booth opposite Oobleck. "You look terrible, Barty."

Team JNPR looked between each other, all of them, bar Ren mouthing something. Jaune and Pyrrha were asking if they'd seen her following them, while Nora was fixated on Oobleck's nickname. Oobleck however, hadn't moved. "Hello, Amber. I wasn't aware you were going to be joining us."

"Neither was I," Amber admitted, a small, sad smile appearing on her face. "The team I was escorting on a mission came in this morning almost immediately after you'd left. Ozpin met us when we landed, and immediately got me up to date on everything that's been happening after the students were dismissed to discuss everything that had happened on their mission with one of their teachers." She shook her head, "I still really haven't had enough time to process everything, but that didn't stop me from taking an offered flight out here to join you."

"How did you even find us?" Oobleck asked. "Did you just figure we'd be here?"

Amber shook her head. "I wish I could say that was the reason, but no," she pulled out her scroll, and showed it to Oobleck. "Apparently the last time our scrolls got an update, it came with a new feature," she tapped the screen, and a few moments later, Oobleck's face appeared on it with a message reading '.1 Meters' beneath it, "that allows you to send out a signal to the surrounding area if you're out of range of any of the kingdoms' connections. If it detects a scroll whose information is already registered in your own, it'll give you a rough estimate of how far away that scroll is. Not a direction through, I had to figure that one out on my own," she shrugged. "The students I was escorting on their mission showed it to me. Never thought it would come in handy this soon though."

Oobleck nodded. "I've had my students show me features on the scrolls I wasn't aware of plenty of times." As he was speaking, he glanced down at his scroll again, prompting Amber to grab it from the table.

"This is an image of what this place looked like when it was still running," Amber said, her voice kind, setting it back on the table before glancing over at their three silent guests and Nora. "Beyond what you told Ozpin, what do you know about this blue masked woman?"

"Uh, nothing," Jaune admitted. "I told everything we'd found to him."

Amber nodded, looking back at Oobleck, "You haven't told them yet?"

Oobleck shook his head, "I was waiting until we got to the auditorium." Amber nodded slowly, a pained expression appearing on her face. "I suppose," he took a deep breath, "I suppose we should head there now then." Amber nodded slowly, and stood, Oobleck following her lead, redeploying his torch as he did. Team JNPR followed the former partners in silence, waiting to hear what they had to tell them. Even Nora managed to keep quiet. They walked in silence for nearly ten minutes until they reached a large domed building near the city's old train station. The tracks extended out past the station far longer than they were supposed to, courtesy of the White Fang's involvement in the ruins three and a half years prior. Walking inside, they found the auditorium to be smaller than most. However, that wasn't the strange thing about the room, no, the strange thing was that unlike everywhere else, the dust coating the floors showed clear disturbances throughout.

"We're not the first ones here," Jaune said, instinctively reaching for Crocea Mors.

"No, but these disturbances aren't fresh either," Amber said, having immediately begun examining them after entering the room. She stood back up from her kneeling position and walked forward towards the stage. "But it seems whoever was here left something of note." Oobleck and Team JNPR, having spread out through the room, examining the disturbances themselves, walked over to where she was standing on stage, getting a view of what was on the ground. "It's the same thing the four of you encountered," she looked at Team JNPR, "the old White Fang logo spread out over the ground in oil."

"Does, does our woman want to change the White Fang?" Pyrrha asked, having heard the explanation behind the oil symbol from their extended discussion with Blake the previous day.

"Yes, she would," Oobleck said, sitting down, staring at a seemingly random place on the ground.

"Are you going to tell us now?" Jaune asked, unsure of what was happening.

"He will," Amber said softly, "just give him a few minutes."

Oobleck didn't hear either of them, instead he spoke out loud to no one in particular. "This is it, isn't it, Mizu? Is this where your life really came to an end?"

* * *

"Team SSSN, you're not supposed to report in for another few weeks," the headmistress of Haven Academy said as they entered the room. She immediately turned back to her computer, continuing to review her files.

"That's true," Sage said, his voice was professional and kind, despite what his tattooed appearance might suggest to some. "but you did say that you would take our preferences into account about where we're going to be stationed, if not immediately, then after a while at least."

"And did your preferences change?" The headmistress asked, still looking through her files. "When you graduated, you put down that your top preferences would either to be here or be transferred to Vale."

"They have," Sun answered simply.

"And where, pray tell, would you like to be stationed now?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked between the four young men.

"Atlas," Scarlet said. "We'd like to be transferred to Atlas."

The headmistress's eyes widened. "This is quite an unusual request. Few people willingly request to be sent to our sister in the north, and because of that, normally, I would grant your request gladly. Unfortunately, the current circumstances are far from normal, and I will have to deny it." She turned back to her computer, and began to look through files while bidding the four men farewell.

"It's about the masked woman, isn't it?" Sage asked.

The headmistress's eyes widened even wider than they did earlier, "How could you possibly know about that?"

"Because the women that have been dealing with her, Team RWBY, are friends of ours," Neptune said, almost pleadingly. "They have been since our first year."

"And do you know what all's happened?" the woman looked between her four former students, put off by Neptune willingly breaking from his normal carefree facade.

"We know that Yang Xiao Long has had her leg broken, and that Blake Belladonna was temporarily hospitalized, both from the same fight," Sun answered.

"We also know that another woman, believed to be one and the same, has also been seen in Vale," Neptune added.

The headmistress looked between the four men slowly. "Are you sure about this?" she asked. All four of them immediately began nodding, their faces serious, their eyes full of emotion. "Okay," she said quietly, before speaking up louder, "I'll speak with the others and we'll talk with our counterparts in Atlas, but at the end of the day, it's the councils of the involved Kingdoms that decide. If you do transfer, it won't be until the end of the month at the earliest."

"Thank you," the four men said as they departed.

* * *

Weiss rolled over in her bed, and stared up at the ceiling, the events of the previous few days still running through her mind. Eventually she rubbed her hands over her face and rubbed her eyes lightly, both to wake herself up, and to help clear her head. Sitting up, Weiss shook her head, her long white hair flailing around as she struggled to keep her mind clear. However, it was abuzz with activity that caused all her attempts to fail, not unlike during the days prior to a large exam. However, the info running through her head now managed to be even more unpleasant. After a few minutes, she eventually managed to bring herself to get out of bed, and walked out of her room without bothering to change out of her light blue nightgown. She paused in the hallway. Blake's bedroom door was wide open, and, due to being directly across the hall from her own, Weiss could see that the bed was unoccupied. Weiss couldn't help but feel a little concerned, Blake had still been up without showing any signs of planning to head to bed anytime soon when Weiss had gone upstairs after Scarlett left the previous night. A glance down the hall showed that both of the sisters' doors were closed.

Weiss shook her head again._ You're just being paranoid,_ she chided herself mentally as she walked towards the end of the hall and down the stairs. Stepping into the living room, she saw Gambol Shroud resting on their weapons rack next to the front door along with Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster. Weiss nodded to herself, Blake surely wouldn't have left without her weapon. She then began to walk over to the dining room, when a rustling sound from their couch made her pause. Changing course, she walked around to see the front of it, where she found Blake stretched out and asleep on it, her coat and shoes lying on the floor next to her where she'd taken them off after getting home the previous night. However, they weren't alone on the floor, joining them were her gloves, ribbons, as well as her scroll.

Shaking her head, Weiss walked over to Myrtenaster and, picking the rapier up, quickly pressed a small, hidden release on it that caused the blade's upper and side guards to move outwards slightly, freeing the bottom guard to pivot. The weapon's blade and revolving chamber fell downward, or would have, had Weiss not had her right hand supporting the blade to let it move slowly, so as to avoid damage. As the blade's method of reloading, Weiss was extremely well practiced in the maneuver, even if she had to do it surprisingly rarely given her Dust heavy fighting style. Weiss removed the revolving, Dust filled chamber and walked back over to her sleeping friend, setting both the chamber and the rapier on the table separately. She then picked up Blake's shoes and moved them over to near the doorway, where the four women normally left them, however, Yang's and, strangely, Ruby's, were missing. She then walked back to Blake and picked the rest of her things up off the floor before picking Myrtenaster's chamber back up off the table. She then twisted it around in her hand until she located the dust type she was looking for. Charging up the Dust with her Aura the heiress combined them with her Semblance in order to generate a number of glyphs underneath Blake that would allow Weiss to move the sleeping woman without disturbing her sleep. With an upward flick of the wrist, Blake was slowly lifted a foot above the couch, her body threatening to roll off the glyphs. Weiss paused, and generated more glyphs to catch Blake should she roll over. When she didn't, Weiss flicked her wrist again, and began carrying her friend over to the stairs, and from there, to her room.

Setting the black haired woman down on her own bed, Weiss set her scroll, jacket, and ribbons on her desk. Walking back over to the door, Weiss felt curiosity coming over her, and she walked back over to the desk and picked up Blake's scroll again. The screen had never shut off, and was still showing a text conversation between Blake and Yang, the most recent message having only been sent two hours beforehand by the latter, Blake's last message having only been sent about ten minutes before that. Weiss almost looked through the conversation before quickly turning off the screen after having skimmed over the phrase 'having been partners for four ears'. She knew that it would require a password to access again, and was thankful for it. _Apparently four years around Yang's changed me more than I know, I nearly laughed at that… aaand I nearly invaded Blake's privacy,_ she chided herself once again, quickly setting the scroll back on the table. She quickly exited the room, and closed the door behind her.

Fetching her own scroll from her room, she walked back downstairs. Reaching the living room again, she placed the chamber back into Myrtenaster and returned the weapon to its place on the weapon's rack, and made her way, finally, to the dining room, and was somewhat surprised to not see Ruby already eating. On days where they didn't have alarms to wake them, the young leader was usually the first one up. _Then again,_ she shrugged to herself as she walked into the kitchen, _it is her sister in the hospital._ As she sat down to eat, she turned her scroll back on and entered her password, and immediately checked her messages. After a few moments she couldn't help but groan. She'd received a familiar, and obnoxious, message from the Schnee Dust Company.

_To Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company,_

_This is a friendly reminder that one month from today, as you are undoubtedly aware already, the Schnee Dust Company will be hosting its annual gala in celebration of the company's 63rd Anniversary. As a representative of the Schnee Family, you are normally permitted to bring a single guest. However, this year, an exception has been made in your case, and you may, instead, bring up to three guests. However, that is not all. As happens every five years, this year's celebration is especially notable, as, in preparation for the upcoming elections for both the Grand Council of Atlas and the Council of Atlas, many of the city's most powerful men and women, both incumbent and those hoping to be elected, will be attending. As a second reminder, due to your time attending Beacon Academy of Huntsmen and Huntresses in Vale, you may find that this will afford you the opportunity to both reestablish old connections as well as form new ones in preparation for the potential change in government that will affect the coming few years. With this in mind, everyone at the company wishes you good luck in your endeavors for the coming month, and look forward to seeing you at the gala._

_Sincerely,_

_Viridian Varos_

_Head of Public Relations_

Weiss leaned back in her chair, her groans now internalized. She'd known the reminder for the company's anniversary would be coming up soon, but she hadn't expected it now, the previous few days having made her lose track of the date. Rereading the message, she couldn't help but scoff at the mention that she was allowed 'up to three' guests. She knew full well that meant she was expected to bring Ruby, Blake, and Yang to the event as well. _I'm surprised my father is willing to wait that long before meeting the three of them,_ she thought. She also couldn't help but roll her eyes as she reread the message about forming connections. _The only connections I'll be able to make there are going to be with old human men and women who have been around way too long to be running a government in this day and age._ Weiss leaned back in her chair, an annoyed expression on her face as she let out a deep sigh.

* * *

"Hey dad," Ruby said, sitting at a terminal of the Ao Plaza Cross Continental Transmit Tower just south of the actual plaza. Surprisingly, the tower was nearly empty, even if its namesake plaza was still crowded far more than it should be before noon.

"Hi Ruby," Taiyang Xiao Long answered, surprise in his voice. "I wasn't expecting a call from you for a while still."

"I know, dad," Ruby said, still feeling tired. "How's Zwei doing?"

"He's doing fine, although I'm out of the house right now and can't check on him," Taiyang answered. "Although I have a feeling there's more going on than just missing Zwei. How's your sister doing?"

Ruby took a deep breath. "That's, uh, that's kinda why I called."

"What happened?" Taiyang asked, his voice turning serious and concerned. "Did something happen to Yang?"

"She's going to be alright," Ruby said quickly, prefacing her explanation. "But… she's currently in the hospital with a broken leg."

"How?" Taiyang demanded, worry overcoming his voice. "What's happened!?"

"There's… a woman going around Atlas," Ruby paused. She'd just explained this all to Scarlet the previous night, but it didn't make it any easier to say. "And, well, Blake and Yang ran into her and she came out on top in a fight. And," she cut off her dad, knowing he was about to speak, "from what Jaune's told us, she's made herself known in Vale as well."

"Alright," Taiyang said, uneasily. "And she'll be fine, you're sure?"

"Yes," Ruby nodded instinctively, stopping herself after remembering that she hadn't enabled the video call feature. "All the doctors and nurses say that she's in more than stable condition, she's just low on Aura, but what she does have is perfectly stable. I was there the last time they measured it. She'll just be stuck in the hospital for a few more days just to make sure everything's fine."

"Alright," Taiyang said, nearly biting his lip to stop himself from asking any redundant questions. "What about you? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Ruby said, exhaustion clear in her voice. "I didn't get all that much sleep last night, but other than that I'm completely fine. Weiss and I weren't there at the time, we showed up after the police did."

"Alright, and… and Blake?"

"She's fine, just a few cuts, but that's it," Ruby said.

"Alright, baby you go get some sleep," Taiyang ended the call. Normally, Ruby would be annoyed at her father still referring to her as his baby, but right now she was just glad that he'd managed to avoid flipping out like he normally did when either she or Yang were hurt. She stood up slowly and reached down to grab Crescent Rose before remembering that while she'd remembered to change out of her pajamas, something she'd nearly forgotten about in her exhaustion, she hadn't remembered to bring her weapon. Shaking her head, she stood back up and began walking back towards the apartment.

On the way back, she dialed Yang's scroll from her own. "Hey Rubes," Yang's voice came through, sounding as tired as Ruby felt. "It's kind of early."

"Not really," Ruby said, checking the time, "It's around ten."

"Is it?" Yang said, her surprise dulled by her exhaustion. "I guess it is, I didn't get all that much sleep last night."

"Yeah, neither did I," Ruby yawned, prompting Yang to yawn on the other end of the call. "Anyway, I called to let you know that I gave dad a little info about what's been happening, and you should expect a call to come… sometime soon."

"Oh," Yang said, remaining quiet for a few moments, "yeah, I guess dad should know. I'll keep my scroll close by."

"Alright," Ruby said, the both of them let out a loud yawn, "I guess you should get some sleep then."

"Yeah, you too Rubes," Yang said, ending the call. Ruby put her scroll away and continued walking until she got back to the apartment.

"Oh, Ruby, I didn't realize you were out," Weiss said in surprise as Ruby came back in through their front door while she came out of the dining room. "You don't normally leave your scythe behind."

"Honestly," Ruby said, walking over to the couch, "I nearly left without changing. I was waiting for the elevator when I- when it dawned on me that it wasn't a good idea to go out in a sleeveless shirt and no shoes or socks."

"How long ago was this?" Weiss asked, taking a seat on the couch.

"An hour?" Ruby asked herself, trying to think clearly as she sat next to Weiss. "I kinda dragged my feet there and back, so I'm not really sure, why?"

"Because I walked out to find Blake sleeping right here," Weiss answered, pointing at where she was sitting. "Did you not see her?" Ruby shook her head, the tired expression on her face registering in Weiss's mind after seeing it up close. "I guess I can see why, I think I was the only one to get any kind of decent sleep last night."

Ruby nodded, moving to stand back up, "Yeah, if there's nothing else you want to say, I'm, uh, I'm going to go back to bed now."

"Yeah, hang on one second," Weiss said. She held up her scroll and pulled up the message from the SDC before handing it to Ruby. "Read it."

Ruby nodded, and read through the message, twice in fact to make sure she read everything correctly in her exhaustion. "So, you're going to this?"

"_We're_ going to this," Weiss clarified. "Despite the wording, it's not really a choice. You, me, Blake, and Yang are all going to be attending."

"I'm sure Blake's going to be ecstatic going to the same event as your dad," Ruby said snarkily.

Weiss sighed, leaning back in the couch, and looking at the ceiling above them to where the bedrooms were located. "Yeah, well, that's one thing I'm worried about."

* * *

"So what are your plans on what to do with this?" Qrow asked, stumbling into Ozpin's office.

"Qrow," Ozpin said, looking up from his computer. "I can't say I expected this visit, although I also can't say I'm particularly surprised you're here either."

"Were you planning on letting me know what's happened to my nieces!?" Qrow demanded, nearly tripping over himself as he stopped in front of Ozpin's desk. "I heard a few things from Tai, who, in turn, had t'hear it from Ruby!" His anger was becoming more and more apparent as he continued to speak, his already slurred voice becoming even worse. "You've always valued your secrets Ozpin, and I've always allowed you to keep them. I trust you absolutely Ozpin, but this, anything doing with my family, _that_ goes a little t'far."

Ozpin sighed, "I was going to let you know, b-"

"When!?" Qrow demanded. "When more people were hurt and you needed to call on me and give me a reason to fight?"

"No," Ozpin said coldly. "Bartholomew just returned to the city after spending all of yesterday at Mountain Glenn. He immediately forwarded me what he found, he's confident that his suspicions are correct."

"And what did he suspect?" Qrow asked, still feeling angry.

"How familiar are you with Team AMBR?"

"Which one? There have been several of those over the years," Qrow said, taking a seat, his curiosity beginning to overcome, but not quash, his anger.

"Bartholomew's old team," Ozpin answered.

"I know they were two years behind mine and Tai's team," Qrow said, his rage calming. "I know Oobleck and his old partner are still around, but as far as I'm aware the other two are supposed to be dead."

"Key in that is 'supposed to be', apparently one of them isn't," Ozpin said. "When you're in a better mood, and, er, less intoxicated, you can freely come back and read through everything."

"So, what are you going to do about this?" Qrow asked.

"It depends on what happens over the next month," Ozpin admitted. "She's shown up far more often in Atlas than she ever did in Vale. Should that trend continue, I will discuss the possibility of sending Team JNPR to Atlas as opposed to splitting them up between here and Mistral. But regardless of what happens, they're not being split up. Should there be no more big incidents in Atlas, I plan on keeping them here in Vale, regardless if she begins causing trouble here or not."

"Didn't she already cause trouble here?" Qrow asked, leaning back in the chair. "From everything I've heard, she's same one who attacked Jaune when he and Pyrrha were out on mission with me and Tai. Y'know, _before_ she attacked Blake and Yang."

"True," Ozpin bowed his head, "but during his report, Mister Arc mentioned that he was the one to draw a weapon first, she responded in kind, the same thing happened when she attacked Miss Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna. Should she start taking... preemptive action against our Huntsmen, then I will consider her to be causing trouble here."

Qrow nodded, standing up. "I'm still not happy with this," Ozpin bowed his again, not surprised, "but with those options, then I hope that next month, I won't be bidding Team JNPR farewell." With that, Qrow turned and left the room, leaving Ozpin alone.

* * *

"I guess we should feel honored that you've decided to grace us with your presence again," Emerald said as Adam reentered the room. "How long have we even been here?"

"That's something you don't need to know," Adam said coldly.

"So, what are you going to have us do?" Mercury asked. "Last time you were here you just said that we're going to help you with your little espionage mission against the SDC. We're not exactly in a position to get any info for you on that, now are we?"

Adam sneered at him, but nodded in agreement, albeit begrudgingly, "Next month the SDC will be hosting a very large, very expensive event. Their largest ever from what my reports tell me. Something else that they tell me is that the company is currently ill equipped to host the event with the number of invites sent."

"You want us to be caterers?" Emerald asked, incredulously. "How could that possibly help you?"

"This event will involve many of the Kingdom's politicians, and, historically, those who are accepted to the SDC event prior to elections are the ones who win that year," Adam smiled. "Make a good impression there, and the SDC will probably look far more favorably on an applicant looking to join one of their entry level positions."

"Entry level?" Mercury asked dully. "You're looking at playing a long game if you're going to be having us do that."

"A _very_ long game," Emerald pointed out. "It could take a decade for just one of us to get to a position of power from entry level positions."

"You would be very bad at your jobs if it took you that long to get what I need," Adam smiled coldly. "I don't need you two to be in positions of power, I need you to be a position to interact with those in power. _That_ should only take a few months, especially if you make very good first impressions."

"So, you need us in a month then," Emerald said. "Are we going to be allowed to see the sun in the intervening time?"

"We'll see," Adam answered, leaving the room.

* * *

"How's Penny doing?" Ironwood asked, staring out the window of his office.

"She'll be alright," Albero answered, taking a seat.

"What happened?" Ironwood asked, turning to face the other man. Albero's face was composed, but his body was tense, and his hands were clenched.

"Honestly? I wish I could tell you what exactly went wrong," Albero shrugged, "but something caused her Aura to fail, and she took damage to some major circuitry in her stomach."

"How long will it take to repair?"

"A few weeks? Maybe two months to get fully working again, the circuits that were damaged are numerous, small, and delicate, some of which play a role in her Aura generation," Albero paused to think. "She should be ready for our little 'demonstration' at Eis' little get together next month, but I don't know when she'll be ready for actual combat again."

"What do you think caused the Aura failure?" Ironwood asked. "The tests today were only slightly more strenuous than yesterday."

"I think… I think it could be a number of things. Maybe our scanners aren't calibrated correctly to her Aura levels, maybe her Aura doesn't regenerate as quickly as we thought, maybe she had a circuit already failing that we didn't detect, there are a hundred different reasons I could name off the top of my head," an annoyed tone was quickly entering Albero's voice. "We're still in uncharted waters with her, there could easily be a thousand reasons for why it failed that we aren't aware of for every reason that we we are aware of. It's just like when we were testing her ability to use Dust two years ago, it could just fail for seemingly no reason until we finally figured out what small thing is wrong among the mess of everything else."

Ironwood nodded, "Thank you, now go. I think you'd be better off at her side for now." Albero nodded, his body relaxing, if only slightly.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to go over everything again?" the woman asked, looking over at Beige, who was sitting next to her. Her hair was slightly longer than shoulder length and had a silvery gray color which, despite the general assumption, was unrelated to her age, and was, instead, her natural hair color.

"Yes, I'm sure, Sil," Beige said, turning to look at his wife in her dark orange eyes. "What I have to say today, I don't need to go over."

"Are you sure about that? That's far from how you normally approach anything," Sil pointed out.

"I'm sure. Today, I don't need practice." Sil nodded as her husband exited the car. She then drove around to begin preparations for later. "Hello, hello," Beige said, taking the stage. He wasn't in one of the city's main three plazas, instead he was in one of the numerous smaller, unnamed plazas that were spread throughout the mess of buildings. Surrounding the stage were numerous spectators, almost all of whom were faunus. He waited for the commotion around him to die down, an endeavor that took several minutes. "Now, it's an honor to be standing here this Saturday afternoon, and I know that you're expecting me to talk about why you should vote for me," he paused, looking through the crowd, the variety of hair colors setting each head apart as much as the variety of different horns, ears, and more. "You've more than likely heard my rhetoric already, I made my intentions clear when I first announced I was running, and you'll have plenty of opportunities to hear it again in the coming month. So, today, I'm not going to do that."

A murmur spread through the gathered crowd. Someone campaigning in their part of the city itself was a new thing to many of them to begin with, so his denial to campaign even further confused them even more than they already were. "Instead, I'm going to start with a question to all of you," as he spoke, the lighting on the stage threw the already glaring burn on his jaw into relief, making it appear even worse, something he wouldn't have approved of had he known. "How many of you, five years ago, had the ability to vote, but didn't? Raise your hands." Beige stood there in silence as he waited, a few hands raised in the crowd after a few moments. "Impressive, around 95% of you voted five years ago? However, census data shows that the number of votes that this area received corresponded to around eight percent of the area's population. Which means that either I have every single voter in the area attending here today, which is entirely possible, or," he looked over the crowd one more time, "a lot of you are lying." Beige walked over to a podium resting on the stage, over to the side as he'd requested, as he'd opted to use a personal mic, and grabbed a large bag from underneath it, something else he'd requested. "Let's try this again," he walked over to a nearby camera, and pulled out a large, round, black, paper disk that he placed over the lens. "Anonymously this time. Now, I don't really trust the camera operators to just cut the video if I ask them to, so I'm making sure they don't record the results," he walked over to another camera, and covered it up as well. He then tossed several of the disks into the crowd, "find a camera, and cover it up." Several minutes passed as various people covered up the cameras, preventing them from recording video, to the annoyance of the operators.

"Now, close your eyes, all of you," he waited for them to follow through. "Now, again, raise your hands if, five years ago, you had the ability to vote, but didn't." Everyone that had raised their hands earlier did so immediately, as well as a number of other people. "See, I knew there were some of you who were reluctant to answer earlier. There's no shame in it, I'm willing to wait." And wait he did, over the next few minutes, more and more people steadily raised their hands in the crowd. "That's about half of you now," Beige lied, seeing that only around a quarter had raised their hands, if that. He couldn't help but smile as his lie stirred even more people to raise their hands, bringing the actual number to more than half. "It's easier to admit now, isn't it? Knowing that you're not alone in this. Keep it up, I know there's bound to be more than just 60% of you who didn't vote." At this, another wave of people raised their hands, bringing the number to nearly three quarters of the crowd, and, over the next few minutes, even more people raised their hands. "Okay, you can open your eyes now," the hands immediately fell as people looked back up at Beige standing on the stage. "That was a little more than three fourths of you, maybe 80%." He motioned around, "The cameras may now uncover themselves." He waited a minute until the cameras were rolling again before he continued speaking. "Now, I have something I want to say to all of you who raised your hands, and it's something I want all of you to take to heart: You're not allowed to complain."

A loud wave of angry voices raised in the crowd, prompting Beige to raise his microphone volume, "What did I just say?" A disgruntled wave of voices passed through the crowds as they gradually quieted down again. "Now, I don't mean you can't complain about anything. What I mean is that you have no right to complain about what the government does, or doesn't, do to or for you. You forfeited that right the moment you chose not to vote five years ago. You didn't make your voices heard the day it was most important, so what makes you think you still have the right to make them heard any other time?" He looked around at the crowd, seeing many angry and disagreeing faces.

"Next month, when the elections are going, vote," Beige said. "I don't care who you vote for, I don't care why you chose them, I just want you to vote. Only then will you reclaim your right to complain about what the government does. The ability to choose who it is that runs our government is one of the single greatest rights you have available to you, yet you don't make use of it. It's something that you should feel deep shame about. I see the disapproval on each and every one of your faces. Why? You complain daily about how the government does nothing to help you, or even the opposite, how it outright works against you. You complain, and complain, and complain, yet when the time comes to actually do something about it, you do _nothing_. The government is not the one who failed you, _you_ failed yourselves.

"Now, if I'm completely honest with you, I doubt I'm going to win. I doubt I'll even come remotely close to winning, but, if, after the votes are all counted up, there's a significant increase in the number of people who voted from areas such as this, I'll walk away happy. And you'll walk away with a voice that will actually mean something again. You have no excuse not to. Are you're sick or old and can't make it to the voting places for whatever reason, call a government office. They'll provide you with a ballot you can mail in. If you won't be able to make it there that day for another reason, do the same thing, call a government office, you have the ability, the right, to vote early. So, again, you've no reason not to vote." Beige continued speaking for several more minutes before beginning to walk off. "Now, this is still not the time for questions, those will come in the next few days." He then stepped off the stage, dissent still clear in the voices of the crowd, and walked over to where Sil had parked the car.

"That… was surprising," Sil said as she began driving away as Beige leaned back in his seat. "I knew there was something you were up to when you wanted to come here and speak today even though you didn't want to say anything more on your political stance until after you answered questions, what Wednesday?"

"Yeah, well, I thought it was something they needed to hear," Beige said, not answering, absentmindedly beginning to stroke her silver fox tail. As was becoming an increasingly standard option available in private vehicles, as well as already standard in all, new, public vehicles, all of the couple's cars that they'd bought over the years had holes in the base of the seats to accommodate tailed faunus.

"All things considered, they probably did, and," she moved her tail out of the way of his hand, "what did I say about doing that while I'm driving?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Beige brought his arm back to his side, "I'm just-"

"Worn out, I know," Sil sighed. "You haven't stopped moving since a week before you announced that you were going to be running. I'm amazed you haven't passed out yet."

"Yeah, well, you're not alone on that," Beige said, closing his eyes, and leaning the car seat back as much as he could. "How long until we get to the next destination?"

"About an hour," Sil answered, prompting Beige to nod slowly. "Just remember what I said about my tail," Sil smiled, "it feels nice, but it's distracting."

"I know," Beige said, smiling as well. "I love you, Sil."

"I love you too, Beige."

* * *

"Yang!" Ruby called, rushing forward to aggressively hug her sister. The soft thud of her body impacting her sister was quickly followed by the sound of a pair of crutches hitting the tiled floor of the hospital.

"Hey Ruby." Yang responded to the hug by giving Ruby a bone crushing one that under different circumstances, Ruby would have struggled to try and get out of. Now, however, she didn't care, she was just glad that her sister was out of the hospital with the only remaining problem being the cast around her left leg. The two sisters stood there for nearly a minute before Ruby let go, something Yang proceeded to do as well instead of holding on as she normally did. "So, what have the three of you been up to?" Yang looked up from where Ruby was picking up the crutches to where Blake and Weiss were still walking up from farther down the hallway outside her, now former, room.

"Not much, other than just sitting around and talking, we were catching everyone else up to date on what's been happening," Ruby answered, standing back up, holding both crutches in her arms.

Yang nodded, remembering the call a few days prior with their dad. When the other two got close, Weiss stopped short and smiled, something Yang was still getting used to seeing, but Blake continued forward and hugged her as well, just as, if not more, aggressively as Ruby had. Yang didn't know if she was or wasn't surprised by the action given that Blake wasn't a hugging person, she just knew she was enjoying it, and hugged the black haired woman back, albeit a bit more gently than when she'd hugged Ruby. Blake tensed up slightly as Yang's right arm touched her, but quickly relaxed again. "I'm so happy you're okay," Blake said quietly, to the point that Yang was unsure if any of the others had heard her.

Regardless, a smile was brought to Yang's face, "Same with you."

**A/N4: So, yeah, time skip next chapter which, baring flashbacks, we're not coming back from.**

**A/N5: Ironically, it took me a lot longer to get the first draft of this chapter, 9,800 words, done than it did the first draft of Chapter 6, 15,000 words… so yeah, that's a thing, but it's a thing that actually made sense after I thought about it. The reason being this: This fic is more or less me taking the big scenes in my head, and figuring out how the characters got there. Chapter 6 was filled to the brim with scenes that were already in my head… this chapter contained absolutely zero of them, a first actually. Instead, the entire chapter is a set up for the next set of scenes that will be shown in Chapter 8, as in, a month later in universe. So, unlike the other chapters, where, if I was stuck, I could just work on a scene already in my head that I was trying to get out while I figured the other things out, I couldn't here, and it made me just take long breaks from writing that I didn't have to deal while writing the previous chapters.**

**A/N6: I never, and I mean NEVER thought that I would write around 11,000 words, then say that the chapter feels short, especially considering 10,000 words is, approximately, my average chapter length when you discount the author's notes. But, Chapter 6 kind of screwed with my sense of what is and isn't a long or short chapter to write… and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Heck, this entire fic is messing with that sense, I actually had a hard time hitting just 6,000 words in my first draft of the first chapter, and it had the aforementioned scenes I wanted to get out along with getting there, yet here I am hitting 10,000+ just setting up for the future... again, I'm not sure how I feel about that.**

**A/N7: If I have to choose one character that I would consider the hardest to figure out how to write, it's Oobleck, because I'm taking a character that exists in canon, and I'm giving him a backstory that's entirely original. Heck, he's effectively half OC, although not as much as Sage/Scarlet/Anyone else that's been referenced or cameoed in canon but hasn't been properly introduced yet, and that's my problem, I'm trying to balance what already exists with what I've made up for him. For RvB, Miles has said that Caboose is the hardest character to write for, so maybe it's because Oobleck is also voiced by Joel… yeah, I doubt that, but it is a fun comparison. And yeah, more RvB talk, this'll probably become rampant in the coming weeks, but for anyone who isn't aware, some of the characters who share VAs between the two series are pretty wild. My personal favorites are Miles voicing both Jaune and Felix along with Arryn voicing both Blake and Dr Grey, and Joel, who I already mentioned.**

**A/N8: Still too many Author's Notes.**


	8. A Night to Forget

**A/N1: So, yeah, title change. And I certainly like it more than the original title. Second note: I consider myself to be very bad at naming things off the top of my head.**

**A/N2: Well, I've done it, new longest chapter. I knew this chapter was going to be long going into it, but this was just ridiculous, especially for a reason I'll talk about at the end of the chapter. Instead, I'm just going to say that Xenoblade 3D came out and I'm enjoying just sitting down and binge playing a new game more than I have in a long time. I haven't sat down and just played and enjoyed a game like that since Pokemon X got me back into that series, and that wasn't even to the extent that I'm enjoying Xenoblade. So, yeah, if I don't update for like 3 months, you'll probably be able to find me somewhere on Bionis.**

**A/N3-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. If you've already read a chapter with this message on it, then go on, if not, for the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

To the southwest of Atlas, a large ship covered in cargo sailed through the ocean on its way to the northern Kingdom. On the deck near the front of the ship, two sailors stood, staring out at the ocean. After several minutes, the sailor on the left turned to face the other, "Hey."

"Yeah?" the sailor on the right responded, looking over at the first one, sounding bored.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"NEVERMORES!" a third sailor yelled out in pure terror, his voice carrying through the deck, quickly being joined by others who had seen them as well. While sea and air travel were considered far safer than the land paths between Vale and Vacuo, flying Grimm could still, and did, give ships problems. It was considered a fact of life that every year one or two ships that weren't equipped with a Huntsmen would go missing because of them. Because of this, the sight of the large avian flying towards them in the distance was enough to cause even the most experienced and hardened veterans of the sea to lose composure, especially given that their ship hadn't been assigned a Huntsmen for the trip, there just weren't enough for every delivery, and their cargo was considered low priority. Because of this, the sailors were running around in panic, trying to strike the approaching Grimm with what weapons they had available to them, which wasn't much. While the entire ship's crew were entering a panic, four young men walked onto the deck from below.

Neptune let out a short nervous laugh. "This looks like more of your thing," he said as he looked not out towards the Grimm in the distance, but at the ocean below.

"No, you're staying," Sage said, "You're weapon's the only one good at dealing with a horde at a distance."

"Oh I'm sure..."

"No," Sage answered as he turned around before walking back down below, Scarlet following him.

Sun slowly shook his head, "And yet you don't stay to help at all even if you can do something. So," he turned to Neptune, "how's some target practice sound?"

"Sounds fine to me," Neptune answered, keeping his eyes leveled away from the ocean. They walked towards a point on the deck where they had a clear view of the approaching Grimm, and where any and all armed members of the crew were standing around, trying to hit their distant targets.

"Boys, it isn't safe up here," a member of the crew said, as they approached. "You need to head back down below."

"What, and ruin the fun?" Sun said, smiling broadly as Neptune reached and grabbed his weapon from his back, the gun's stock quickly deploying as he took to his firing stance and aimed at the large mass of Nevermores. Before the man could say anything more, the gun quickly charged and fired its first shot, striking the Nevermore that had taken the lead of the flock. The large Grimm had made the mistake of flying directly towards the ship, meaning Neptune hadn't needed to worry about leading the shot. "How far would you say?"

"Wait, you're Huntsmen?" a sailor asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, how do you think we were given permission to come along for the ride," Sun said, without looking at the man. "Last I checked, the only other way to get aboard these ships was to join the crew or stow away. Neptune, how far?"

"A few hundred yards," Neptune said, before continuing to fire. His shots quickly tore through the oncoming Grimm, causing numerous bodies to fall into the water in the distance, however the number of Grimm allowed the flock to quickly close in.

"Looks like it's time for me to join in," Sun said, quickly grabbing Ruyi Bang from his back and held out one of the ends before quickly flipping it into the air to grab the other shotgun and taking aim.

"Son," the sailor closest to them said, unaware that that was also his name, "that is a shotgun, what are you planning on-" his words were cut off by Ruyi Bang's retort as Sun fired, the closest Nevermore recoiling as the shot struck it, downing, but not killing, the massive beast in a single blow. Sun quickly worked the weapon's lever action, ejecting the spent shell casing, before taking aim again. With the mass of Grimm getting closer, the untrained shooters that made up the ship's crew were able to start striking the beasts as well, and, while their shots weren't as effective as Neptune's or Sun's, they were able to take down several of the Nevermores as they approached. When one got extremely close, Sun quickly grabbed the other end of Ruyi Bang in his left hand and delivered a quick shot to its chest, several small wounds appearing, he then quickly flipped the shotgun nunchaku into the air, the action working both shotgun's levers, readying them both to fire again. Sun then caught it in his right hand and quickly fired again, producing a single massive chest wound that killed the Nevermore then and there. After a few more shots from the shotgun, which Sun was taking care to aim with, he dropped it to the floor, and grabbed Jingu Bang from his back, beginning the process again. The two Huntsmen continued firing as the Nevermores' numbers rapidly thinned, the last one being killed by a repeat of Sun's earlier action by quickly grabbing and firing the second shotgun on the other end of Jingu Bang's chain before following up with a second shot from the first shotgun.

"So," Sun said, turning towards the crew, "how long until we reach Atlas?"

"Uh, two days," one of the sailors said, staring disbelievingly at the two young men who had just slain a small army of the same beasts that had haunted many of his predecessors until the day they'd died. Sun nodded and quickly grabbed Ruyi Bang off the ground, setting it on his shoulder as he opened Jingu Bang and started loading more shells into it as he and Neptune started walking off.

"So, what do you think the chances are of at least one of them going to a firing range and wondering why the shotgun's buckshot isn't as effective at range as you made it look just now?" Neptune asked, as he opened up his own weapon and replaced what appeared to be a large battery.

"Depends on if any of them know what a slug is," Sun shrugged as he finished reloading Jingu and returned it to his back so he could reload Ruyi. "Also if they understand what 'short range' actually means in terms of firearms."

* * *

Yang delivered a powerful kick against the punching bag hanging in front of her. She prioritized striking with her left leg, but dealt a few kicks with her right from time to time. She continually pounded the bag with her leg, the kicks not being anywhere near as effective as what she could do with her punches, but she kept up the barrage regardless. "Do you really want to put so much pressure on your leg already? Your cast just got removed yesterday," a female voice said from behind her.

"Yes," Yang answered without turning around. "I've lost a lot of muscle that I need to build back up, and the best way to do that is to get right back to training, something I should have been able to do a few days earlier as is."

"Can you really blame the doctors for being careful? Your leg healed in just over four weeks, pretty impressive considering most people take six to eight at our age."

"I'm aware, Blake," Yang said, without letting up. "but that comes with my semblance. Faster healing and Aura regeneration is pretty useful when you're at your best in combat after being hit a lot." Yang quickly delivered a few more kicks before she continued talking. "And besides," Yang turned around to see Blake leaning against the wall nearby, "I'm hardly as fast healing as Jaune."

"Yeah, well that's Jaune's entire Semblance," Blake shrugged. "And I doubt the doctors would have let him out of a cast as soon as he was healed either, they'd have held off for a few days, just like they did with you."

Yang sighed, turning back to the punching bag. "True," she admitted begrudgingly before delivering another barrage of kicks. "So, how'd the meeting with Ironwood go? Does he still want me to visit some of his future students or can I go patrolling with the rest of you now? Because let me tell you," she paused to deliver a powerful kick with her right leg, "some of the kids fresh out of Vantage are kind of annoying."

"You say that as if you weren't just like them when you finished your time at Signal." Blake laughed quietly, "Or is that the reason why you're annoyed by them?"

Yang grunted as she kicked the bag again, "Just answer the question Blake."

"You'll be finishing up the last of our first month patrolling with the rest of us," Blake said. "But I'm actually here to remind you that the SDC event is tomorrow. Unless you want to walk around with a sore leg in your heels, I'd recommend you stop kicking right now. Although I have doubts that's going to prevent any soreness at this point."

"Okay, and Ruby and Weiss are going to be out patrolling for another few hours so what am I to do for the rest of the day, read?" Yang asked, delivering yet another kick with her left leg.

"...yes?"

"Blake, we still don't have any channels on our TV that aren't news. I've read more in the last month than I have at any other point in my life," Yang said, delivering another kick with her right leg, this time straightening her leg to strike the center of the bag, knocking it backwards, as opposed to a kick to its side. "I've gone through a decent part of your mini library, and I've actually learned why Jaune's so interested in that comic of his."

Blake nodded slowly behind Yang before her eyes widened, "Wait, you've been through my books?"

"Yeah," Yang delivered a second straight on kick, "at least the ones that I found interesting. I have to be in a specific mood to enjoy, er, _Romance _novels as I think you called them once."

"Oh, well that- I, uh, it's not, I, how did you even?" Blake was growing increasingly flustered as she attempted to try and defend herself, her face growing redder as well. Yang delivered a savage punch to the bag with her left arm, knocking it backwards, and entirely off of the hook it was hanging from, causing it to fly back several feet. Afterwards, she turned around to face Blake, a large mischievous grin on her face. "I… you just made that up didn't you?"

"Consider it payback for making fun of my driving skills last month," Yang said, walking over to where Ember Celica and her jacket were lying on a bench. Blake didn't say anything, knowing that even if Yang hadn't known, she certainly did now. "And, come on, we're all adults here, you really don't need to be hiding them," Yang teased as she walked over to pick up the punching bag, causing Blake to blush deeply. After picking up the bag, Yang walked over to the door.

"Wa-wait, so how are you going to spend the rest of the day?" Blake asked, trying to change the subject as she followed the blonde woman through the building.

While the room they'd been in had been empty, the second room was not. Soldiers filled the room, working out to maintain their physiques so that they could continue to do their jobs. The ability to make use of the military's training rooms was a benefit of their current work under Ironwood's watch. "For what I'm going to do later, I don't know yet. As for right now, I'm going to look for a new dress. My current one will kinda give off that my legs are two different sizes right now, and there's not all that much attractive about that."

"And I'm sure that's the big thing you're worried about," Blake said as Yang tossed the punching bag over to the side of the room with her left arm, eliciting several stares from some wide eyed soldiers.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yang asked as she waved at the soldiers with her uncovered metal right arm, which only prompted more stares.

"Just that most of the people at the event are going to be older and," Blake stopped.

"And what?" Yang turned to look at her partner.

"And I've known you for four years at this point, and you've been single the entire time I've known you…" Blake said sheepishly. "I mean, yeah, you'll flirt quite a bit, with both men and women, but when it comes to actually dating, you've never actually followed through on it."

"Yeah, well, we were busy at Beacon," Yang said, looking away.

"At times yeah, but it was hardly four years of pure work," Blake said. "Even Ruby had time for a few boyfriends of her own."

"Yeah, good times," Yang laughed, "quite a few broken bones and hearts, none of them mine nor hers." Blake just shook her head.

* * *

"So, what would you say was probably the happiest moment of your life?"

Beige stood there for a few moments before laughing, his professional smile replaced by a genuine one, "That's certainly an unusual question for an interview less than a week before elections."

"Yes, well you're certainly an unusual candidate," the interviewer said. "You've only been on the scene for a month, and yet you've created a bit of a stir. But, despite that not much is known about you, so back to my question. I'm guessing it wasn't when you got that burn."

Beige nodded, clearly feeling amused, "Alright then, if I had to choose one thing, the happiest moment of my life has to be when my daughter was born."

"See, that's what I'm talking about," the interviewer said enthusiastically, "I don't think anyone was aware that you're a parent. What's your daughter's name?"

"Her name was Crystal."

"Beautiful na- wait, was?" the interviewer asked, surprised.

Beige nodded, "Yes, if the happiest moment of my life was when she was born, the worst has to be when she died when she was three."

"Oh, uh, my condolences." Beige nodded slowly. "So, uh, do, do you have a picture that we could see?" the interviewer asked, trying to regain his composure.

Beige nodded and pulled out his scroll and quickly showed it to the interviewer. It was a picture of his wife holding Crystal in her arms. "This was taken twenty years ago, soon after she turned two." Crystal's hair was an orangish-red color that reached down to her shoulders, with both her and her mother having dark orange eyes. Crystal's tail could be seen falling past her mother's arms, the fur covering it the same color as the hair on her head. Her face was was somewhat rounded, similar to her mother's.

"You know," Weiss said, turning to look at Ruby, the two of them watching the interview being broadcast on a large screen in Ao Plaza, "I can see what he meant by her looking like you. If she lacked the tail, she'd look more like a sister to you than Yang."

"Yeah, it's kinda unnerving," Ruby said, averting her eyes from the screen as the interview shifted to a different topic. "Do you think he'll be at the event tomorrow?"

"No," Weiss said simply, beginning to walk away.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Ruby said, following her. "I wish I could vote for him, he's really nice, and I feel like he really means what he says."

"How long do you have to live here before you can vote?" Weiss asked, resting her left hand on Myrtenaster's hilt.

"Another eleven months. We need to be a resident for a full year."

"That's longer than I thought, I thought it was closer to six months," Weiss said, thinking.

"You're thinking of going to Vale," Ruby said. "Apparently since a lot more businessmen come to Atlas for extended periods compared to the other Kingdoms, they have a longer waiting period."

"Ah, that makes sense," Weiss nodded, "although I doubt your vote, or Blake's, or Yang's would be enough to win him the election. He's currently projected to get maybe three percent of the total vote."

"Yeah, well is anyone really surprised?" Ruby asked.

"True," Weiss conceded.

"So," Ruby laughed, "uh, how exactly do elections to council work here? In Vale a few councilmen go up for elections every other year, but they've been mentioning every five years for here."

Weiss sighed, "You dunce, you haven't looked this up at all?"

"Well, no. We've kind of been busy…" Ruby trailed off.

Weiss shook her head, but smiled a bit, "The Atlesian Council is split into two parts. The Grand Council has three members that serve for fifteen years each, with one going up for election every five years in the summer. The Lower Council has members that get elected every three years, and only serve for six years, with half going up for election each time. Unlike the Grand Council who are elected by the entire city, the Lower Council members are elected from different districts, like all councilmen in Vale."

"So, when's the next elections for the lower council?" Ruby asked.

"It's…" Weiss paused to think, "actually, it's this year."

"So, why would Beige go straight for the Grand Council? Do they have some benefit over the lower council?"

"Well, their votes _are_ worth more when it comes to passing bills and the like," Weiss conceded, "but it's not by all that much. No, I think he's trying to make a statement."

"What kind of statement?" Ruby asked, confused, as always, by politics.

"I wish I knew."

* * *

"Hurry it up you two!"

"Alright, alright," Emerald grunted, frustrated. She and Mercury were working to set up a large auditorium within one of the Schnee Dust Company buildings, and had changed their appearances accordingly. Mercury's hair had been dyed black while Emerald's was now longer and brown. Emerald was also wearing contacts to hide her red eyes so that they appeared black. The room was mostly decorated already, but there were a few last minute things to set up before the event began later that night. Lowering her voice, she turned to Mercury while they carried a few supplies around the room, "These last few days have made me wish Adam had just killed us."

"Why? Menial labor is hardly all that bad," Mercury shrugged as they approached the man in charge.

"Good, now there're a few more chairs that need to be placed at the tables, and that'll be it," he said, as he directed several others to take the supplies they'd brought. The two of them nodded, and walked to where the chairs were set up.

"That's not what I mean," Emerald said, as they paused at the mass of chairs. "Look at where we were a few months back. We were practically running Vale from behind the scenes and no one was the wiser of our involvement, now we've lost everything and we're being forced to help take down a company that we've got nothing against."

"You mean like how we had the White Fang moving against Beacon?" Mercury pointed out, as he grabbed a chair.

"Why have you been doing that recently?" Emerald asked, annoyed.

"Doing what?"

"Pointing things out like that. You've taken to doing that a lot the last few months. Actually, I think you started it after we thought Adam died," Emerald answered.

Mercury shrugged, "Yeah, well I thought it might pay to be careful, and look what's happened, we're still alive, Cinder isn't."

"Yes, but Adam is," Emerald hissed under her breath as they got closer to another worker. "I wonder if we could find a way to get info about him and the Fang out to the Atlas authorities without him finding out."

Mercury kept silent until they were out of the way of anyone else before he replied. "Let's see, you were major terrorists, but then you brought in another major terrorist… Somehow I doubt it would bring down our sentences all that much if we got caught, or were turned in. He did say he was going to be keeping an eye on us."

Emerald sighed, "Yeah, but how would he even do that?"

Mercury shrugged, "I don't know, but he found us in Vacuo didn't he?" As he spoke, a woman entered the room, with long red hair.

"Hello, Scarlett," the man in charge of the event greeted her. "So far everything's going well, we should be finished within an hour."

Scarlett nodded, her large blue eyes scanning the room, "Everything looks wonderful. You've outdone yourself even with all of the added burdens. I'm sure Eis will be pleased."

"Yeah, well, so long as he's pleased enough to give me a raise, I'll be happy," the man said, causing the both of them to laugh.

"Yes, well I'm sure that's something we would all be happy with that," Scarlett said.

"That woman, I thought I heard one of the other workers say she was Eis Schnee's personal secretary the last time she came to check on the room's progress," Emerald said.

"Well, then I guess we should start making ourselves useful to her," Mercury suggested. "Try and get in with some of the big wigs, that's what Adam said right? Wouldn't hurt to start early, especially with someone like that." Emerald nodded, an unhappy expression covering her face.

* * *

"How goes things here?" Ironwood asked, walking into a laboratory.

"Her Aura's generating," Albero answered, not taking his eyes from Penny, who was lying on a sheet of metal in the middle of a room on the other side of a thick pane of glass. "We've tried recalibrating the scanners, but they're not changing their results from before."

"Will she be ready for tonight?" Ironwood asked, moving over to read several monitors next to Albero.

"She was ready a few days ago," Albero answered, averting his eyes from Penny to instead look at the readouts on the monitors as well. "We're just running electrical impulses through her circuits to reconfirm they can handle the increase from heavy stress. So far they're handling them better than the original systems, not too surprising all things considered. Some of her old ones were approaching six years old. There's been some decent advances since then, even a few of the Dust mixtures we're using are comparatively new."

Ironwood nodded, "How many times have you checked?"

"More than I care to count," Albero said.

"Then I think it'll be okay," Ironwood said, walking over to the door.

"I know, I just," Albero sighed, "I just want to avoid another incident."

"I know, but there's only so much you're going to be able to do right now. She'll not be in any danger today," Ironwood said, before leaving the room. Albero sighed a second time, before walking over into the next room. Once inside, Albero walked between the various machines, turning them off, before walking back over to Penny to disconnect the machines connected to her. After disconnecting her, Albero walked back into the other room, and began to turn off the scanners.

"Time to wake up, Penny," he said to himself as he stood back up straight. He then walked over to another machine in the room, and placed his left palm on it, a green glow appearing over his hand for a moment as the machine turned on.

As the machine was gradually turning back on, Penny woke up in the other room, and sat up, "Father?"

"Right here," Albero called out, through the open door.

Penny stood up and walked into the room to join him, "What are you doing?"

"Just preparing a few final things for tonight," Albero said, turning to face her. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," Penny said, giving him a smile.

Albero nodded, a tired smile appearing on his face, "That's good to hear."

* * *

"Ah, Miss Schnee, are these your guests?" the woman asked as Weiss, Ruby, Blake, and Yang entered the lobby of the western Schnee Dust Company building, all of them, sans Yang, wearing heavy coats. Yang was, instead, just wearing a strapless dark yellow dress, with a pair of long black gloves covering both of her arms.

"They are," Weiss confirmed as she, Ruby, and Blake removed their coats to reveal their dresses underneath. Ruby's dress was a dark red, and Weiss's was her normal white, while Blake's was black. Yang waited for them as they set their coats to the side before they returned to the woman. "Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long," Weiss introduced the three of them. The woman nodded, and motioned for them to proceed into the room beyond, which was large and open. On the far side was a raised stage with several podiums. In front of the stage was a long, somewhat curved table, with several smaller, round tables spread throughout the room, crowding it heavily.

"So, are you ready to spend the next several hours bored out of your skulls?" Yang asked. Weiss snorted indignantly, but didn't say anything.

"It feels wrong just being in here," Blake said. As she spoke, she reached her hand up to adjust her bow, making sure it was on correctly. She was especially aware of it due to it being her first time wearing one in months. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang just nodded slowly, knowing full well it was about the White Fang.

"Well, let's just get the first part of this over with," Weiss said, preparing to walk forward.

"So long as the first part is sitting down, I'm game," Yang said, grimacing. Blake just shook her head.

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Ruby asked, struggling to keep up with the other three in her heels.

"Yang's leg is sore because her first line of business after getting her cast removed was to beat it against a punching bag," Blake said after Yang kept quiet.

Ruby let out a short laugh, as she turned to face her sister "I'd honestly have been surprised if you hadn't been doing that." Yang's grimace changed to a smile as Weiss just shook her head as she continued walking back towards the large table.

"Weiss!" a female voice called out happily, causing the white haired woman to stop dead in her tracks. A teenaged girl walked over to the group, wearing a charcoal grey dress.

"Winter," Weiss said, a pleased tone in her voice that none of her teammates could figure out whether it was forced or genuine, "I would have thought you'd have shown up with father."

Winter smiled warmly, an expression that seemed far more genuine than the one that was currently on Weiss's face. "Yes, well, father got caught up with a few last minute things on the way in and he sent me on ahead." When she reached the team, she immediately gave her older sister a hug, an action that demonstrated another difference between their appearances, Winter was half a head taller than her sister, even with Weiss wearing longer heels. In addition, the the both of them wore their hair in very different styles, as while Weiss allowed hers to grow long and trail behind her in a ponytail, Winter kept her's at a shorter length that was tied up in a bun, with only a few strands out of place and her bangs that reached down past her chin, covering the right side of her face. While Weiss was hugging Winter back, the smile on her face seemed to change to a genuine one for a moment before shifting back to her more normal, and even more clearly, forced one. "So, who are your friends?" Winter asked, as the sisters broke apart.

"These are my teammates from my time at Beacon," Weiss said, motioning her hand from one to the next, "Ruby," who gave a short curtsy, "Blake," who bowed her head politely, "and Yang," who just widened her smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, I've heard… a little about you," Winter said, her tone formal but kind.

"We've heard, pretty much the same thing," Ruby admitted.

"You don't visit enough," Winter said, turning back to her sister, "I haven't seen you at all since they arrived."

"Yes, well, we've been busy," Weiss said, not wanting to go into details.

"That's what Scarlett said when I talked with her about it," Winter said, beginning to walk with the group towards the back of the room as well. "Although she didn't go into specifics, but then again, she probably doesn't know what a group of Huntresses are going to be up to either."

"I guess," Weiss said, looking between Ruby and Blake. However, before anyone could say anything else, there was a small round of applause as Eis Schnee entered the room with Scarlett at his side. While Scarlett was a tall woman, she wasn't overly so, Eis Schnee on the other hand… was not a tall man. Standing next to him, Scarlett looked as if she was part giantess, an effect only exacerbated by the high heels she was wearing. As the applause died down, the five young women approached him, Scarlett leaving to talk with a few men working near the back of the room. As they got closer, Ruby and Yang were struggling not to laugh, both of them having bitten the inside of their mouths to stop themselves from making even a little noise, while Blake had an amused look on her face.

"I thought he was taller," Ruby muttered to Yang as the group got closer to him. Yang bit down harder to keep from laughing while Blake's amused look changed to a small smile. When the group reached the man, it was clear that he was only slightly taller than Weiss, however this wasn't immediately apparent because Weiss, like every other woman at the event, was wearing a pair of heels that caused it to appear the other way around, with both Blake and Yang having to physically look down at the man to meet his gaze.

"Hello, I am Eis Schnee," he said, looking between Ruby, Blake, and Yang. Ruby nearly shuddered, hearing his voice through a speaker or on television was one thing, but hearing it in person was different. Coming through a pair of speakers, his voice was filled with a practiced warmth, however, here, it had a clear coldness to it that the warmth just didn't quite mask fully. "The three of you must be Weiss' teammates," as he said that, he looked directly at Ruby.

"Oh, uh, my name is Ruby Rose," Ruby said, nearly tripping over her words. Eis nodded, an unreadable expression on his face, then looked at Yang, then at Blake, both of whom introduced themselves more gracefully than Ruby had.

Eis nodded again, his expression remaining unreadable. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said professionally, as he turned back to Weiss. "I expect you'll be wanting to talk with many of the fine men and women who will be running our government for the next few years," despite his wording, his tone made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion, something Weiss understood immediately as she nodded her head. "Good, let's go Winter, I see some people I believe you should meet." With that, Eis and Winter walked off.

Weiss let out an aggravated sigh, "Come on." She lead the others to the back table where her name was labelled directly next to Eis's own seat, with the three seats on her chair's other side being reserved for her guests.

"Oh, lovely, we're right at the head of the party," Yang said, taking a seat without much further complaint, Ruby sitting down next to her.

"So, are the two of you just going to sit there as long as you can?" Weiss asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'd prefer to, yeah," Ruby said, Yang nodding along, prompting Weiss to sigh again, a sad look appearing on Ruby's face.

"I'll go with you," Blake volunteered, surprising all three of the others.

"Wait, Blake, really?" Yang asked. Blake nodded and motioned her head over to where Eis was standing, which wasn't all that far from where they were. "Oh, you don't want to be close to the Ice King huh?"

"Not really," Blake said, grimacing.

Weiss nodded, "Alright, thank you." Blake nodded, and the two of them walked off, Weiss leading the way through the crowd.

"So," Ruby said, leaning back in her chair, "straight back into training."

"Yeah," Yang admitted, "until Blake pointed out that we were going to be here tonight."

"And how long was that?" Ruby asked, picking up a fork lying on the table, and playing with it a little as she spoke.

"Half an hour," Yang said, absentmindedly rubbing her leg a little through her dress.

"So you were just there kicking a punching bag for half an hour, no wonder your leg's sore," Ruby said, remembering a few times she'd had to start her own training regiments back up after an injury. "You know you could have started with some running instead."

"No, don't be silly. I did start with running the day I got my cast removed, and I was actually kicking it for a full hour, Blake was just there for half of it," Yang said. Ruby was about to say something before stopping herself, instead just shaking her head. "Hey, you can't really be surprised by that."

"No, I'm not," Ruby admitted. "Some things never change. And if we weren't here now, you'd have been training again today, despite the pain."

"Yeah, well, walking in these heels hurts worse than kicking a bag for a long time."

"That's just because you've got your Aura numbing it when you're training," Ruby pointed out.

"No, not really, I've got my Aura focused in my leg right now to numb it already, it's just walking in general without anything to focus my mind on keeps the pain at the forefront of my mind."

"Wait, you're using your Aura now?" Ruby looked at Yang surprised.

"Well, yeah. I mean I've got it focused in my leg. I've still got another few days before I'm back to actually working again, so its not like I've got to worry about wasting some of it, it'll regen by the time I need it again."

"No, I mean I haven't seen the glow of it at all."

"Oh," Yang laughed, "yeah, well it's kind of bright in here, and there's a reason why I opted for this color dress instead of my normal white, and it certainly wasn't to avoid looking like Ice Queen, I can tell you that."

Ruby nodded, looking over at where Weiss and Blake had walked off to, "You know, it's kinda weird seeing Blake wearing a bow again."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blake asked, looking over at Weiss as the two of them walked away, the voices around them leaving them out of earshot of Ruby and Yang.

"It's just that after a few months without it, I've gotten used to seeing… something else, atop your head," Weiss said, trying to avoid mentioning Blake's ears by name.

"It was your idea to wear it to this event," Blake pointed out.

"Yes, well, I figured that it would probably make things easier to manage," Weiss said honestly. "From what Scarlett's said, my father still doesn't know the truth, and it's certainly easier to just get through tonight first before worrying about him finding out."

Blake nodded slowly, "You're probably right about that, but," Blake let out a nervous laugh, "honesty it does feel weird wearing it again, it makes everything sound… off."

"Off how?"

"Well, everything sounds partially muffled, but not all that much," Blake paused to think. "Imagine your right ear was partially covered up by a piece of paper, it's kind of like that. I was used to it before, but after foregoing my bow for so long, after… well, anyway I got used to everything sounding normal again."

Weiss nodded slowly as a voice stopped them. "Ah, Miss Schnee." Weiss and Blake turned around, being greeted by a man only a few years older than them. Weiss greeted him politely and the two began talking, with Blake keeping quiet and nodding politely from time to time.

Back at the large table, a familiar voice caused Ruby to jump and turn around in her chair, "Hello Ruby."

"Penny!" Ruby said in surprise as the orange haired android approached her and Yang. "What are you doing here?"

"My father and Mister Ironwood were invited to attend, and I was brought along as well to help demonstrate," Penny said.

"Uh, demonstrate what?" Yang asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Why, what she's capable of," a man walked behind Penny and put his left arm around her. "So, who are your friends Penny?"

"Oh, hello father," Penny said, making both Ruby and Yang stare, "this is Ruby and her sister Yang. I met them several years ago in Vale."

"Several years ago," he looked at the two of them curiously, "that would mean that you're also friends with Weiss Schnee. That would certainly explain why you're sitting here."

"Oh they are, and another girl named Blake, who's a-"

"Penny, please don't say that out loud," Ruby said, rushing to cover her mouth.

"Bhs I?" Penny tried saying through Ruby's hand. When Ruby removed it, Penny asked again, "But why?"

"Let's just say that there're some people we don't want finding that out right now," Ruby said, as she heard Yang sit back down behind her, having clearly stood up as well.

"I would ask, but working with James, I already know," the man said. "He's talked about you and your team, I've just never seen a picture of you before. Anyway," the man laughed, changing subjects, "my name is Albero Polendina, and as Penny said, her father."

"Yes, well it's nice to finally meet you," Ruby said, shaking his extended and gloved right hand. His grip was strong and rough, but hardly crushing.

"So, Penny, do they know?" he removed his arm from around Penny as he looked at her, keeping a hand on her shoulder instead.

"No, of course not," Penny said, before hiccuping.

"That would be a yes then," Albero said looking back at the sisters, who nodded slowly. "What about anyone else, discounting Weiss and Blake."

"There shouldn't be anyone else," Penny said, not hiccuping this time.

"We haven't told anyone," Ruby said honestly.

"Not like anyone would have believed us if we did," Yang pointed out. "I wouldn't have had I not seen proof with my own eyes."

Albero nodded, "Well, that's hardly an issue, it's coming out tonight after all."

"Wait, you're revealing the truth now?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"In around," Albero looked at his watch, "an hour and, yes. Along with a," his hand visibly tightened on Penny's shoulder, "demonstration of her skills."

"I'm sure everything will go fine," Ruby said. Albero nodded slowly.

"So is Ironwood here too?" Yang asked, looking around.

"He is," Albero confirmed, "to the right side of the room. We're trying to keep a bit of a low profile until it's our turn on stage." Yang nodded, refocusing her search.

"So, Ruby, Yang, what have you two been up to?" Penny asked.

"Not much actually, we had an… exciting first few days, but after that our month's been mostly boring," Ruby said.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Penny said.

"Don't be," Yang snorted, "our first few days were a little too exciting."

"Yes, a broken leg would certainly qualify as too exciting," Albero said.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Ruby asked, tensing up.

"As I said, I work directly with James, General Ironwood, and he speaks a lot about your team. I was at, or rather, near the hospital when he came to talk with you," Albero motioned to Yang.

Ruby nodded, relaxing back again. _You need to stop jumping at shadows, not everything's out to get you just because of one woman,_ Ruby tried reassuring herself. However, it didn't work, just as it hadn't worked the previous times she'd tried doing the same thing over the last month.

"In fact the entire reason I was there was because he wanted me to check on your arm."

"You were the one to deal with that?" Yang asked, unconsciously clenching her right fist slightly.

"My department was," Albero confirmed. "I trust it's running just as well as before."

"It's been running better than it ever has before, actually," Yang said.

"That's good," Albero smiled. "We replaced a few of the Dust cords on it. Lehti was happy to see it again."

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"The guy who helped Ironwood go through the first round of tests on my arm to make sure the Dust in it worked properly," Yang answered. "Somehow I'm not surprised you know him. I imagine your departments would work closely together."

Albero nodded, "Closer than you'd think."

"Oh, hello Penny," Weiss's uncertain voice came from the front of the table before anyone at the table could say anything else.

"Oh, hello Weiss, Blake," Penny said as the two of them walked around the table and took their seats, Blake next to Yang, and Weiss next to Ruby.

"Miss Schnee," Albero bowed politely as Weiss sat down.

"Oh, hello…" Weiss paused, unsure of who he was.

"Weiss, this is Penny's dad," Ruby said to her, "uh, Albero."

"So you're Penny's, uh, father," Weiss said, unsure of using the word to describe his relation to the android.

"Well, father, creator, I've been called both," Albero said. "I would love to chat, but it appears that some of the, uh, activities are soon to begin." With that he bowed to the group as he and Penny walked over to the side of the room, where Ironwood was standing, Yang finally having spotted him just moments before.

"That took longer than I was expecting to get across the room," Ironwood said quietly as Eis Schnee stood up on stage to speak as the rest of the room took their seats.

"Yes, well apparently Penny here is friends with Team RWBY," Albero muttered under his breath in reply.

"What?" Ironwood said in surprise. "How would she know them?"

"She said from four years ago. She probably encountered them before the Vytal Festival, Vale did host it that year, and Penny did mention meeting several strong people that we warned her to stay away from." Ironwood nodded, and the two of them stood in the back of the room, waiting for their turn to take the stage as various people took their own turns to give speeches, each met with a round of polite applause.

"How long have we been here already?" Yang eventually muttered as yet another person took to the stage to begin speaking.

"Just under an hour," Blake muttered back, slightly louder than Yang to make up for the blonde woman's hearing not being as good as her own.

"Uh, it feels like we've been here for three at least," Yang said, feeling increasingly annoyed.

"Not really, this isn't all that different from putting up with one of Port's lectures," Blake said, a small smile appearing on her lips as she began to relax at the event.

"Yeah, well I always slept through those."

"I know. Why don't you sleep through this?"

"You know why," Yang grunted. "I'd love to, I really would, but sleeping through class I could at least get some of the info later, somehow I doubt I'm going to be able to come back from being 'that woman that slept through the SDC event'."

"Well, at least we've only got another two and a half hours," Blake said, to herself as much as to Yang.

Yang nearly turned her chair back around to face the table so she could bang her head against it, "Kill me now."

"What? And miss the food? I'd only be more surprised if Nora was the one to say that," Blake pointed out, although she could agree with Yang's sentiments, and for the same reason.

"Another half hour of this isn't worth it, much less the next hour and a half after we eat. I don't care how high quality the food's going to be." Blake opened her mouth to reply back when the man on the stage stopped talking and stepped down, the polite applause throughout the room not being loud enough to cover their words.

As the man stepped down, Ironwood took to the stage. "Greetings, I am Major General James Ironwood," the room was already dead quiet. "Although, for the last decade, I haven't been commanding soldiers around, most of the time. Instead I have served as the headmaster for Outlook Academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses. However, that is not to say that I haven't been working in the military at all, for I have been working with some of our top researchers, with the aid of the Schnee Dust Company for the last two decades. With this alliance, we've produced a number of advancements and new droids over the last few years, but we've always been looking further, looking to develop an android that would be able to truly replace people on the battlefield for all but the most dire of circumstances. Now, to do this, we needed to improve technology beyond what was even through possible, and nearly six years ago, we made our first breakthrough on the way to doing just that. The head researchers at the Vetro Military Headquarters had found a way to generate an Aura from a machine."

In any other group, the room would have been filled with chatter, instead the room remained silent, confused voices replaced by confused expressions. "Now," Ironwood continued, "I'll concede that not all of you are aware of the ramifications of this, for while Aura is not a secret by any means, it has managed to remain relatively unknown outside of certain circles."

"Yeah, just look at Jaune our first few months at Beacon," Yang muttered, prompting Ruby to bite the inside of her mouth again to stifle a giggle.

"Aura," Ironwood held up his hand, a silvery grey glow appearing around it, "is a manifestation of our very soul, and it is what separates a living being, from a machine or the Grimm. Among Huntsmen and soldiers both, it's most basic form is a shield, an invisible protective barrier far superior to any armor we've ever been able to produce. In addition," he continued, "Aura is what allows for the manipulation of Dust so that it can be used as something other than a propellant or a power source. It is for this reason that people have been the preferred way to defend our borders, but now is the time to begin to let go of these notions. Now, I'm aware that this seems fantastical, or even absurd, and it is for that reason that I would like to present to you, a demonstration." As he spoke, Penny walked up behind him. "Penny here is the first of the next generation of androids. Now, she is not ready to take up the mantle of responsibility, not on her own at least, however, she does represent a breakthrough that has already been improved upon since she was first created."

"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you," Penny said, to the room. After she spoke, the lights of the room darkened, and a series of schematics appeared on the large screens in the back of the room.

"Now, these show far from all of the specifics of what's going on within Penny's body, but they give you a brief overview," Ironwood said. "Now, I present to you, a live demonstration of some of her abilities. Penny, close your eyes." When she did, Ironwood handed her a vial of blue Dust. Penny immediately raised her hand, the Dust beginning to glow for a second before a small torrent of water began cascading from her hands. Ironwood then handed her a vial of red Dust, with which Penny repeated the process, this time producing a large amount of fire, that dried her off, but left her unharmed. "This might be uneventful or even boring, but it is proof of an Aura running through her body. And because of that, it is time to prove that she truly is an android as I have claimed."

Penny turned around, and her back opened up, revealing a series of blades stored within her body that flew out of her back and hovered around her. A wave of shocked gasps ran through the crowd, the only thing keeping Team RWBY from joining them was that they'd seen it before, and even then they were still staring. Penny spent the next several minutes manipulating the swords around the stage, showcasing several of her own practiced movements. "Now," Ironwood started speaking again after she'd finished, "this is all well and good, but it only gives you a fraction of what Penny is capable of," as he spoke, the lights in the room darkened, "so we've prepared a video demonstrating her prowess." Behind him, the large screen turned on, showcasing Penny fighting during a variety of different scenarios. Most of them were against soldiers, however, near the end of the video, the scenes changed to show familiar surroundings, first it was her performances at the Vytal Festival, the tournament area's numerous biomes all being represented, then it was against the White Fang. "As you can see, she's also had real world fighting alongside her training. Some of it, such as the previous two Vytal Festivals in Vale and Vacuo, were planned. Others, the dealings against the White Fang, were not, but nonetheless provided valuable information and practice. Over the next few years, we expect to see only improvement for Penny, as well as more of her kind to begin to be built."

Ironwood stepped down from the stage, Penny accompanying him, to resounding applause. "Well, that was certainly exciting," Eis Schnee took to the stage as well. "I think we can all agree that this provides for a bright future for not only our Kingdom, but for our sister Kingdoms as well," his words were met with more clapping, more polite and controlled this time around. "For now, however, I feel we should let this information simmer over the next half hour with some food." With that, a large number of waiters came out from one of the side doors and carried large trays to the various tables as chairs were shuffled around to face the tables. Several servers walked over to the large table where the Schnees, Team RWBY, and three members of the current council were sitting. As soon as the soup was set down in front of her, Yang immediately grabbed her spoon, and began eating.

"Like I said, not worth it," Yang said, after tasting it, "but almost." The table ate in relative peace broken only by polite conversation between Eis and the councilmen. When the main course was brought out, Eis shifted the conversation.

"So, Councilmen," Eis said, looking past Winter to his left to look at the three older men, "you've already met both of my daughters, but I don't believe you've met Weiss' teammates from her time at Beacon Academy, have you?"

"No, I don't believe we have," the middle councilman said, as he looked over at the three young women to Weiss's right. "I've great respect for Huntsmen and Huntresses, I worked alongside a number of them in my youth. How did you find your time at Beacon to be?"

"Oh, it was very rewarding," Weiss said, speaking up, a professional tone in her voice.

"Unless I'm mistaken," the councilman on the end spoke up, "I believe that Beacon was partially responsible for the defeat of the White Fang, did the four of you participate in that?"

"Yes, we did," Yang answered, making sure to swallow her food first. "Our first encounter with them was actually in our first year."

"Truly, how fascinating, news of that didn't make it all the way here unfortunately," the middle councilman spoke up again. "So, what do you think of the White Fang's endeavors?"

"I'm sorry," Ruby asked, "but what do you mean?" Blake meanwhile, looked down at her food more intently and continued eating, hoping the conversation would just blow over.

"Their claim to want equality, they stand by it, yet they also indulge in terrorism, it seems contradictory, especially in this day and age."

"Councilman," Eis said, politely, "I don't believe that this an appropriate place to discuss such base topics as the motives behind a terrorist group."

"Oh I disagree," the middle councilman said. "Groups such as the White Fang have shown to have an influence on the young before. Indeed, a mask wearing group such as them were responsible for some of the upheaval during the Great War nearly eighty five years ago. I wish to see how their opinions have been swayed by this generation's group."

"Well," Ruby said, "I can't really agree with what they did. They want equality, but they crossed a line in trying to get it." Blake smiled to herself, as she continued to eat.

"Ah, yes, we're all familiar with their rhetoric," the middle councilman said. "Although I can't say I agree with you on how I feel about it."

"Councilmen," Eis interrupted again, his voice sounding slightly aggravated. "I'm sure none of us agree with what they do, and I feel it would be best to turn to something more appropriate for a night such as this."

"Actually, I'd like to ask something first," Blake said, abandoning her food, as she spoke to someone other than her teammates for the first time since they'd arrived. She was staring directly at the councilmen, ignoring what Eis has said. "Could you clarify what you meant, councilmen?"

"Well, their methods to me suggest that they want to rule us, not be equal with us," the councilman explained. "Do you not feel the same way?"

"That depends," Blake said, her growing aggravation beginning to overcome her nerves. "Their actions under the influence of Cinder Fall were hardly aimed towards their original goal, but on their own, they have certainly shown interest in equality."

"Surely you can't agree with them," the councilman said incredulously.

"I'll never claim to agree with what they do, like Ruby said, they crossed a line, they crossed _several_ lines, but the vast majority of the people that work for the organization do wish for equality. They've always wanted that, and I doubt they've changed their minds on it," Blake said vehemently.

"Yet the faunus already have equality, they have for years," the councilman sitting next to Winter said as Eis opened his mouth to interrupt again.

"Legally, yes, that's true" Blake said, beginning to sound aggravated to go with how she felt, "but in practice they've still got a long way to go, even with the great strides that have happened over the last few decades."

"Blake, calm down," Yang said, a soothing tone in her voice. Several people in the nearby tables were beginning to look up at them.

"No," Blake said, her aggravation fully overcoming her unease, "it's attitudes like that that form a large part of the problem. To just think things are better than they are when you have no idea what it's actually like!"

"Blake," Ruby said under her breath, almost pleadingly. Blake's jaw clenched, but she nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. Even more people had begun staring, and as she calmed down, her unease returned in full force as she remembered that Eis Schnee was sitting at the same table, his expression showing he was far from pleased with what had just transpired.

"I can see this is a topic that you are very passionate about, but from my experience, I have to disagr-" the middle councilman stopped talking as Blake's body jerked forward, into the table.

"So-sorry, ma'am," the black haired man behind her said, fear plain in his voice from having messed up in such close proximity to Eis Schnee himself. "Please excuse me, I-I tripped." He quickly hurried off as Blake sat back up and looked back down at the councilman that had been talking, ready for him to continue, but she was surprised to see that he was staring uncomprehendingly at her, as were the other councilman on either side of him. Looking back down the table, she saw that Winter was also staring at her, her mouth agape. Next to her, Eis looked incredibly angry. Weiss, however, wasn't looking at her, instead, she was looking at the table, while Ruby looked positively terrified. Directly next to her, Yang's hand was empty, still clenched as if she was holding her fork. From there, Blake slowly looked down, time seeming to slow to a crawl as the table came into view.

Her heart felt like it skipped a beat as her eyes fell on to her bow, lying on the table. Blake slowly looked up to see steadily more and more people staring at her. No, not even at her, they were staring at her cat ears. Their faces were a mixture of different emotions, most of them were surprised, but showed no other interest, however those weren't the ones that held Blake's attention. No, the ones that held her attention were the fearful ones, a number of amused ones, but mostly, it was the angry ones.

"A faunus," Eis' voice was filled with venom, any and all traces of the warmth that had been there previously were now gone. Blake didn't say anything, couldn't bring herself to say anything. She felt Yang's hand reassuringly grip her arm. Normally it was something that helped Blake calm down, but this was hardly a normal time. Blake was terrified, the anger in Eis' voice was familiar to her, and, upon bringing herself to look at him again, she recognized the rage in his eyes. She'd seen it from many people before, from humans who had nothing but contempt for her species, from other faunus who had grown as equally bigoted against humans, and, worst of all, from Adam, who had begun looking upon anything and everything with that anger.

"Blake…" Yang's voice didn't reach her, and, like her touch, her voice's normal calming effect was lost among Blake's fear.

"A faunus! Here," Eis Schnee took to his feet, which, while unintimidating in and of itself, was just enough to push Blake over the edge. She wasn't thinking, instead, she was running. Her feet flew across the floor as she ran towards the entrance of the room as fast as she could. No one rose to stop her, and she ran uninterrupted out of the room. She didn't stop when she felt the cold air touch her skin, and even then she didn't begin to slow down until she could feel an ache in her legs from it. She was alone out in the Schnee Plaza, the sun having long since set even before the event had begun. Even with the cold air affecting her, she didn't stop moving, not until a warmth enveloped her.

"Blake, it's alright," Yang said, her arms holding Blake tightly, the warmth of her Aura spreading through Blake's body, warming her from the inside. "Everything will be fine." Blake didn't say anything, all she could do was just shake in Yang's arms, but not from the cold. Together, they walked back to the north, partially with Yang leading Blake, partially with Yang carrying her. They didn't head directly towards the Schnee buildings, instead towards to the right of the building they'd come from, towards the large road between the two buildings. They continued walking until they reached a bench, where the two of them sat down. "Are you okay?" Blake nodded slowly, but she didn't stop shaking. Yang nodded, and let go of her, letting the cold air begin to flood back, causing Blake to cross her arms to try and stay warm. "Here," Yang quickly handed Blake her coat before the cold had enough time to get to her.

Blake didn't say anything, but quickly put it on, the large trench coat helping her warm back up, except for her legs, where the only thing keeping her warm were her leggings, which helped somewhat, but not all that much. However, she felt her feet growing colder, causing her to realize that she'd left her shoes behind when she'd run out. Looking over to the side slightly, she saw Yang's bare feet, and with it something else struck her. "Your leg," Blake said quietly.

"What?" Yang calmly asked.

"Your leg, isn't it sore?" Blake asked, her voice slightly unstable.

"Well, yeah," Yang admitted, "but I had something more important on my mind."

"I shouldn't have ran," Blake said, shaking her head.

"Normally, I'd agree with that," Yang said soothingly, putting her left arm back around her partner, "but I saw the look in _his_ eyes. You made the right decision this time. I've no doubt in my mind that there was nothing to be gained in there tonight."

"How are Ruby and Weiss?" Blake asked, her voice still weak as she slowly began to stop shaking.

"I don't know, I left immediately after you did," Yang answered. "But that's not important right now. What's important is how you're doing."

"I'll… I'll be fine," Blake said slowly. "His expression, his eyes, his… anger, I've seen it all before. I've seen it too many times before." She shook her head, and crossed her arms tightly around her stomach again. Yang didn't say anything, she just held Blake closer. She wanted to say something to make Blake feel better, but she didn't know what it was like to be on the receiving end of mindless hatred. So, they sat together in silence for several minutes. "Thank you."

"For what?" Yang asked, surprised.

"For being there, for being there every time I've run away without thinking. Despite what you know about me."

Yang shook her head, "I'll always be there to support you. I thought you'd have gotten that into your head by now. Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on, and I'll always be there to be yours, not despite what I know, but because of it." Blake didn't say anything, instead she just leaned into Yang's embrace. After a few minutes, Blake felt herself begin to finally calm down, both physically and emotionally, if only slightly. After a further few moments, she looked up at Yang, and she felt her emotions overcome her again, but there was something different about them this time. "So how are we do-" Yang's words were cut off as Blake suddenly kissed her, their lips brushing against each other for a moment. However, before Yang could even process what was happening, Blake broke away, a terrified expression returning to her face.

"I'm sorry," Blake moved away from Yang, looking down. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean, I- It-it was a mistake."

"Blake, Blake, it… it's alright," Yang said, still shocked from what had just happened.

Blake shook her head, "No, I-I was just," she shook her head again. "I wasn't thinking, it was stupid, it was-"

"It's alright," Yang said again, her voice steady this time. Blake didn't say anything, as she began shaking again. "It's alright," Yang repeated.

* * *

"Did you know!?" Eis demanded, glaring at Weiss. The large room had changed from a quiet gathering to a loud chatter as everyone was trying to figure out what had happened.

"Yes," Weiss said quietly, staring straight down at her lap.

"What!?"

"Yes," Weiss said slightly louder, sounding as if she was on the edge of tears.

"And how long have you known that she was one of _them_?" Eis demanded, his rage growing.

"Since our first semester at Beacon," Weiss repeated, her voice still unstable.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew that you'd demand we be separated onto different teams," Weiss said, the first tear falling from her eyes.

"And why, knowing that, did you still keep it from me?" Eis's rage was growing, both from Weiss' lies, but also from the tears that streaming from her eyes, feeling as if they meant that she was weak.

"Because she's my friend," Weiss said, even quieter than when they'd started talking.

"What did you just say?"

"She's my friend."

"You would dare call one of those _beasts_ your friend!?" Eis said, his rage continuing to grow.

"She's not a beast!" Ruby yelled at him, as Weiss shut down completely, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Ruby took to her feet, looking down at Eis. "She's a person!"

"She's a beast! A filthy animal masquerading as a human," Eis said, his anger nearly breaking.

"No!" Ruby yelled back, moving between him and Weiss. "She's a person, and she just wants to be treated fairly!"

"Get out of my face," Eis snarled.

"No, Weiss is my friend, and so is Blake," Ruby said, standing her ground, thankful that her heels, despite everything she hated about them, were giving her a noticeable height advantage over the man. "I won't move so long as you insult or talk down to either one. You've no power over me, you've no power over Weiss. We're not your employees, nor are we children!" Eis didn't say anything, instead he clenched his fist, and punched her. Ruby didn't flinch, nor did she move, instead a bright white flash went off as Ruby's Aura deflected the blow, a reddish light covering her body for a moment as she had called her Aura to guard her just before Eis had struck. Eis, however, didn't care, his anger had finally broken, he just wanted to destroy what stood in his way. He pulled his arm back to try again.

"Ladies, go home," Ironwood said, startling both Ruby and Eis. Both had been so focused on each other that they hadn't noticed the tall man move past them until he'd spoken and restrained Eis' arm.

"But," Ruby started to argue.

"You may not be Eis' employee," Ironwood spoke over her, "but you are a Huntress stationed in Atlas, and as the Headmaster of Outlook, I am giving you, Weiss, Blake, and Yang a simple mission, go home." Ruby bit her lip, and nodded, and turned to Weiss. The white haired woman was still crying, her hands gripping her knees as tightly as she could through her dress.

"Weiss," Ruby said, unsure of what to say, she'd never seen Weiss break down like this before. Ruby put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly, and look at Ruby, tears still freely rolling down her face, her entire body shaking slightly. "Come on," Ruby said softly.

"O-okay," Weiss said, even her voice was shaking. Weiss stood slowly, and they began to walk away, Ruby pausing to pick up Yang's shoes. The two of them made their way slowly across the room, numerous faces turning to follow them as they walked.

"Wait," a female voice stopped them near the entrance. Ruby and Weiss stopped and turned around to see Winter standing there, holding a pair of shoes. "Here," she held them out. Ruby nodded, recognizing them as Blake's. After being relieved of the shoes, Winter hugged her sister. "I'm so sorry." Weiss didn't say anything, tears rolling freely down her cheeks, and onto her sister's shoulder. "I shouldn't have taken his side, I never should have." Weiss didn't say anything, but hugged her sister back. After a few moments, the sisters released each other, and the group of three walked slowly out of the room, grabbing their coats on the way out.

Once outside, the three of them made their way down the streets between the two Schnee buildings and made their way to Weiss's car. When they reached the vehicle, they found Blake and Yang sitting on the ground in front of it, not saying anything. "I take it things didn't go so well with you guys either," Yang spoke up, seeing Weiss being supported by the two younger women. Her expression fell even further from its already downcast appearance when she saw Weiss' tear strewn face.

"I'll drive," Ruby said, taking the keys from Weiss's coat, and unlocking the door.

"They're actually letting us just leave?" Blake asked, her expression showing that she was glad regardless.

"Ironwood gave us a 'mission'," Ruby answered, taking her seat behind the wheel. She looked over at Winter, "What are you going to do?"

"Oh, I, uh, I was wondering if I could come with you," she looked at Weiss, who had taken a seat in the back, "if it's alright with you. I think there are some things we need to talk about." Weiss didn't say anything, but nodded slowly, and moved over to sit in the center. Winter nodded, and moved into the now vacant seat as Blake sat on Weiss's other side, and Yang sat in the passenger seat.

* * *

"You knew, didn't you?" Eis demanded from Ironwood.

"Blake hasn't kept her heritage a secret for nearly half a year," Ironwood said.

"And yet I've been kept in the dark on the subject. You knew she was going to hide it tonight," Eis angrily accused Ironwood.

"The four of them never told me that they were going to hide it from you tonight," Ironwood was keeping his voice steady.

"They work for you, how could they not have told you?"

"They're Huntresses, not specialists. They work for me as much as you do," Ironwood said. "There was no need, nor any reason to confirm what they would be doing here tonight," Eis stormed off. Ironwood sighed, "Looks like the remainder of tonight's events have been cancelled, wouldn't you say councilmen?"

"I would say so," the middle councilman said, the other two nodded. "I'll go announce this new development. Ironwood nodded and walked off.

"You didn't answer his questions," Albero said as Ironwood approached. "So, did you know that they were going to hide the truth?"

Ironwood sighed, "Of course I knew. Do you know where the man that caused all of this went off to?"

"Well, assuming you're not talking about Eis, no, unfortunately, neither does Penny. This event is technically a private affair, so video footage is out of the question as well," Albero said. Ironwood nodded, and walked off. "Come on Penny, let's go home."

"Okay, father," Penny said and the two of them set off to leave.

"Albero," a female voice stopped them from behind.

Albero turned around to see a familiar face walking up to them, "Uh... Scarlett, sorry. What's wrong?"

"Did you see where the man that knocked into Blake went?" Scarlett asked.

"Ironwood just asked the same thing, so I'll give you the same answer, unfortunately not," Albero said.

Scarlett nodded, "Well, lucky him. I suppose right now... I suppose I should hope that when everything blows up, it looks gorgeous."

"That was terrible," Albero said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah it was," Scarlett bowed her head, "I was trying to lighten the mood, and that was the first thing that came out."

Albero nodded slowly, "Well, we'll just be going then." Scarlett nodded, and walked off towards the stage while Albero and Penny walked back to the entrance.

"Father?" Penny turned her head to look at Albero.

"Yes, Penny?" Albero asked.

"What's going to happen to Weiss and Blake?"

"I wish I knew, none of this is going right."

* * *

"Well, that was more exciting than I thought it would be," Mercury said, leaning against the side of a building in an alley nearby. "That's actually the most fun I've had in a looooong time."

"Yeah, well, somehow I have a feeling it might make our jobs harder down the line," Emerald said.

"Maybe, but right now, I'm pretty sure it was worth it," Mercury said. "A faunus, and a former member of the White Fang, although they don't know _that _quite yet, hiding in plain sight less than ten feet from Eis Schnee himself. Plenty of room for scandal down the line."

"Yeah, and plenty of room for Adam to murder us should he find out we caused this if something happens to her," Emerald pointed out. "I may not like it, but he's still obsessed with her."

"Yeah, well, who knows, now we know where his 'friend', Blake, is, and, depending on how many people lose their jobs, it might actually make our job easier. Who knows, maybe he won't kill us if it gets out we caused this."

"You mean _you _caused this, I had nothing to do with your little 'trip'. And do you actually think that he'd be grateful enough to spare us?" Emerald asked skeptically.

"No, but it's nice to hope. And if he does still kill us, at least we had a good last laugh." Mercury's scroll rang, "and look who it is, someone's horns must be burning. Hello."

"What happened?" Adam demanded. "I'm getting reports of a lot of people leaving that event nearly two hours early."

"Yeah, well turns out one of the visitors was a faunus, Eis Schnee didn't really take the surprise well," Mercury said, smiling broadly.

"Really? And how would a faunus manage to sneak into the event?" Adam asked unbelievingly.

"Well, it turns out that Weiss Schnee's team has been brought to Atlas. Her _entire_ team," Mercury emphasized.

"Blake," Adam said quietly, just as Mercury had predicted. "You expect me to believe that she was in the same room as Eis Schnee?"

"Yes, after all, I've got more than just my word," Mercury said, transferring him a picture he'd taken earlier. Adam didn't respond, and hung up. "See, what did I tell you?"

"I thought you were the one pointing out the problems in these things, not me," Emerald said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well that was before I got to have some fun. Although I'm starting to see why you found it annoying."

"Does that mean you'll stop?" Emerald asked.

"No," Mercury answered, beginning to walk away.

* * *

"I've never seen Weiss break down like that," Ruby said, shaking her head as she sat down on their couch. They were back at their apartment, and Weiss had gone upstairs with Winter.

"I don't think she wants anyone seeing her like that," Blake said, taking a deep breath as she sat down next to Ruby. Yang didn't say anything, and was keeping an eye on Blake, as she took a seat in one of their chairs.

After a few minutes, Winter walked back downstairs, alone. "So," Ruby asked, "how's Weiss?"

"She'll be… alright," Winter said, sitting down in the unoccupied chair.

"So, what happened?" Ruby asked, still feeling worried.

"Weiss… has never seen eye to eye with our father on a number of different things, the most prominent of which was," she paused, looking over at Blake, "well…"

"Faunus," Blake said, finishing the sentence for the girl, who nodded.

"Weiss's view is a lot like our mother's, and our parents would get into arguments quite a lot when we were younger. One day, our mother just left us, without a word. Our father was fine with it, but Weiss was devastated. For a little bit, she would argue with him as well, but," Winter took a deep breath, "in the end, he'd always come out from it angry, and after the White Fang declared war on our family, he even hurt her a few times. Most of the time it wasn't all that bad, and she'd come back from it quickly, but that stopped after…"

"After he scarred her?" Yang asked.

Winter nodded, "After that, she stopped arguing, she was the perfect daughter, doing everything she could to make sure father was happy. But all the time she was always planning on finding a way out. After mastering two aspects of our family's Semblance, she managed to convince our father that if she learned to be a Huntress, it would bring great things to the family, she even pointed out how the Ao family benefited when one of their children was found to be attending Beacon Academy."

"And your father agreed because even if he didn't like it all that much, it was good for business," Ruby said. Winter nodded. "So, what did you mean earlier about how you should never have agreed with your dad?"

Winter grimaced, "Well, when we were younger, before our mom left, I adored Weiss, I still do. She's my older sister, do any of you have older siblings?"

Ruby and Yang looked at each other for a moment, before Ruby raised her hand slightly, "Yeah."

"Right here," Yang smiled weakly.

Winter nodded, surprise crossing her face for a moment, before her expression quickly changed back to its original downcast one. "Well, like I said, I adored Weiss, I loved spending time with her, and with mom. But, when mom left, while Weiss kept up her side, I just went to agreeing with father right from the beginning." She paused taking a deep breath, "I knew some of it was wrong, but I stuck by him. I still loved Weiss, but I could feel her growing to resent me because of it, and I just kept standing by father, because I was afraid of losing his love…" she took another deep breath, "at least that's what I told myself. I wasn't afraid of losing anything, I was just afraid of what he'd do. But today, seeing him like that," she shook her head, "he'd been angry before, both when Weiss used to argue with him and also when the White Fang attacked, but it was never like that," she shook her head, "it was too much."

"So you came with us so you wouldn't be near him when he was so angry?" Ruby asked. Winter nodded.

"Do you think that'll help things in the end?" Blake asked, saying more than just one word answers for the first time since they'd gotten home.

"Honestly… no," Winter admitted. "All things considered he'll probably just get angry at me after I go back."

"Then why go back?" Ruby asked.

"Because," Winter's voice fell, "because…"

"Because you have no where else to go," Blake said, knowing the feeling from her time at the White Fang. Winter nodded. "It takes a lot to break free from that."

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" Ruby asked, wanting to help the girl.

Winter's face brightened a little. "Yes, but, do you have another bed?"

"All we've got is a couch, sorry," Ruby said. "Blake's slept on it without complaint."

"I guess I can't really be picky, thank you," Winter said, sounding somewhat relieved.

Yang stood, "Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." Ruby and Winter nodded, while Blake looked like she wanted to say something before stopping herself. Yang walked over to the stairs and went up them. Blake then shifted her gaze back over to Winter and motioned for the girl to join her on the couch. Winter nodded, surprised, and walked over and sat down next to the faunus.

"Look at me," Blake said. Winter jumped a little and looked up at Blake, awkwardly avoiding her gaze for a few moments before finally looking right into her amber eyes. Blake stared back into Winter's blue eyes, trying to figure out what she was seeing. It wasn't anger, nor hate. _Curiosity? No, well, maybe a little, _Blake thought to herself, _no it's, it's_ "fear."

"W-what?" Winter asked, looking away.

"That's what I saw when you looked at me, I saw fear," Blake said. Ruby looked over at the two of them curiously.

"I-yeah," Winter said, looking down. "I guess I am a little afraid. The only times I've ever come close to dealing with faunus before now was hearing about what the White Fang had done recently."

"Weiss was the same way," Ruby said. "Our first semester together, she'd lump any faunus that broke the law in with the White Fang."

"What changed that?" Winter asked.

"Getting to know a few of us," Blake said. Winter nodded slowly.

* * *

"Weiss," Yang said, leaning against the door to Weiss's room, after having just opened it.

"I really don't want to talk right now, Yang," Weiss said, rolling over in the bed to face away from her.

"Winter told us about a few of the things that have happened between you and your dad," Yang said, walking into the room, and sitting on Weiss's bed, "and your mom."

"Again, I don't want to talk about it," Weiss said, the sudden depression on her bed threatening to roll her back over.

"How old were you?" Yang asked, ignoring the protest.

"Yang, seriously," Weiss said, moving away from her.

"Then answer my question, and I swear I won't ask any more afterwards," Yang said honestly.

The room was silent for several minutes. "I was ten."

"I wasn't even one," Yang said sullenly.

"What?" Weiss rolled over to look at Yang.

"I'm sure you've wondered as to why Ruby and I have different last names, everyone does, a few of them even come up with some crazy theories. Well, the reason's that my mother left our dad when I wasn't even a year old yet," Yang said, her voice growing quiet. "Her name's Raven Branwen, our uncle Qrow's twin sister. They were on a team together with our dad and another woman, Summer Rose."

"Ruby's mom," Weiss said.

Yang nodded, "I'm not surprised you haven't heard the story, Ruby hates talking about it, even if she wasn't really old enough to understand it all at the time it happened." Yang paused taking a breath. "Summer died when out on a mission, I was seven at the time, Ruby was still four, almost five. It was only then that I found out that Summer wasn't my birth mom."

"What did you do?"

"I, well I became obsessed with finding out why she left, at least for a while. But even today, I still want to know."

"I… I already knew the reason," Weiss said, staring up at the ceiling. "My father drove her away with their constant arguing and his need to win. No matter what, he had to come out on top."

"Did you hate your dad for it?" Yang asked.

"I thought you weren't going to ask anymore questions?" Weiss asked, not feeling all that annoyed.

"I guess I lied," Yang smiled.

Weiss nodded, "I did. I still do."

Yang nodded as well, "For a while, I hated my mom for leaving, but that's died down. Anymore I just want to know why. Part of it comes from dad just shutting down a bit after Summer died. He'd been alright beforehand, but losing two loved ones like that, it really took a toll on him. After Ruby and I nearly got killed, because of something I did, he changed again, he began to freak out if either of us showed even the smallest sign of being hurt. He nearly had a heart attack after we were attacked at the Vytal Festival."

"The one where Beige saved you?" Weiss asked, remembering the story.

"Wha-oh right, that was him wasn't it?" Yang said, laughing a little. Ruby and Weiss had told Blake and her the story a few days after she'd gotten out of the hospital. "Small world-But, yeah. After my leg got broken last month, as soon as dad found out, he went to a CCT and called me immediately. I was in a call with him for over an hour."

Weiss sighed, "My father, if anything, just got angrier after my mom left. He'd always been an angry person, but after she left, he'd get angry at the drop of a hat. After Scarlett came around, she pretty much raised Winter and me instead of him. Anyway, eventually he," Weiss stopped talking and looked away, touching her scar.

"Winter told us," Yang said.

Weiss nodded. "I'd thought I'd forgotten what it was like to just talk with my sister. It was a lot like talking with Ruby."

"Yeah, I wouldn't know anything about that," Yang said, making Weiss laugh a little. "And besides, we may not all be blood relatives, but we're a family. You can talk to any of us about anything." Weiss opened her mouth, but Yang cut her off, "I know, I know, you've already taken to doing that with Ruby, for a long time now, but Blake and I are here to listen too. And there're definitely going to be some things a little sister just won't understand as much as an older one." Weiss nodded, and Yang stood and walked to the door, and closed it behind her.

"I think Ruby's the only one you haven't comforted today," Blake said, standing in the doorway of her own room, her eyes looking away from Yang.

"She's pretty much the only who hasn't needed it," Yang said, leaning on the other side of the door. "Is there anything we need to worry about tomorrow?"

"Sun, Neptune, and the others arrive from Mistral," Blake said, still not looking at her.

Yang laughed, "Well, at least it's something actually fun. How long do you think until everything from earlier comes to a head?"

"I don't know," Blake admitted, "and honestly I don't want to think about it right now."

"Yeah, same here," Yang shook her head. "How'd things go with Winter after I left?"

"I think we came to an understanding," Blake said, shuffling awkwardly. "Can't really expect everything to be perfect immediately, even between her and Weiss..." She remained quiet for a few more moments. "Look, Yang… about earlier."

"It's alright," Yang said, trying to reassure her. "You were emotional, and were caught up in everything that was happening. You said you didn't mean it right?"

"I… I did," Blake said, unsure of how else to answer.

"Then it'll be fine." Blake looked up at her. Yang just smiled, "Goodnight Blake." She turned away and walked to her own room.

Blake opened her mouth for a second before closing it again as she looked back at the floor, "…goodnight Yang."

* * *

Jaune's scroll beeped, waking him up. Letting out a yawn, he reached over to pick it up. "What is it?" Pyrrha asked, the high pitched chime having woken her up as well.

"It's a message from… Velvet?" Jaune said, confused. "She says she's found something the four of us will want to know. I thought she wasn't helping us look for anything anymore."

"She probably didn't want to stop after just a few reports of sightings and the fact that the White Fang had a general presence in the area twenty years ago," Pyrrha said, rolling onto her side. "She was worried about Yang and Blake too when we told her, after all."

"That's true, when'll we have enough time to head back to that part of the town again?" Jaune asked, stifling another yawn.

"End of the week I think," Pyrrha said, thinking. "Ozpin has us running around to other areas for the next few days, but this weekend I think we should have enough time to do our own looking again."

Jaune nodded, sending the message. Lying back down in the bed Jaune shook his head a bit, "I hope whatever she's found, it's more than we've found. We've gotten nothing since we got back from Mountain Glenn."

"Well, we've gotten some things, it's just not all that much compared to learning that she was one of Oobleck's teammates," Pyrrha said, wrapping her arms around Jaune, crossing them over his chest. Jaune sighed, but nodded.

* * *

Weiss walked down the stairs yawning. It was the next morning, and she hadn't slept well nor had she changed out of her dress yet. She shook her head, and walked around to the front of the couch and sat down in a chair and stared at Winter sleeping on it. "Weiss?" Her head jerked upwards to see Blake walking out of the dining room.

"Oh, hey Blake," Weiss said. "I honestly didn't expect anyone else to be up already."

"I don't think any of us are going to be getting enough sleep for today," Blake said, walking around to sit in the other chair. Unlike Weiss and Winter, the latter of whom wasn't able to, Blake had changed the previous night.

"True," Weiss said, looking over at a clock, "we've still got a few hours before the other's ship gets in."

"Do you mind if I come along?" Blake asked.

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked surprised. "You were reluctant to go before because of Sun…"

"I know, but," Blake paused, looking up for a moment, "there's something I need to talk about, and I can't really talk about it to Yang… or to Ruby."

"What?" Weiss asked, feeling even more surprised. "Yang's the one you talk to when you can't go to anyone else, can I ask at least why you can't take it to her?"

"Because… well it's about Yang, and she'll probably take it to Ruby herself."

"Okay," Weiss said, standing up, "now I regret asking because I'm even more curious than I was before." Blake nodded. "Three hours, right?"

"Unless there's a delay," Blake confirmed. Weiss nodded, and walked into the dining room to eat, before heading back upstairs to bathe, change, and try and rest a little more before meeting Blake at the entrance to their apartment. In silence, Weiss left a note for the others, and the two women exited the apartment, then the building and walked down the street before making their way into the parking garage.

"I don't think our car's going to have enough room for six people," Weiss said, looking at it.

"Well, we have the minivan," Blake pointed.

Weiss looked at where Blake was pointing, and saw a large, yellow minivan parked directly next to her car. "I don't remember buying that."

"That's because Yang bought it," Blake said. "She bought it online as soon as Ruby and you told us that Sun and the others were coming here. She even made sure it had eight seats instead of the more common seven. It got delivered a few days ago."

"How have I not seen that before?" Weiss asked. Blake shrugged and walked towards it.

"Key's already on the chain," Blake said, prompting Weiss to check the keychain. Sure enough, there was a car key on it that she hadn't seen when she'd had it up any of the times she'd used it over the past few days. Shaking her head she climbed into the van and started it up, before driving out until they reached a traffic light.

"So," Weiss looked over at Blake, "what can't you talk to Yang or Ruby about?"

"Well," Blake took a deep breath, "after I ran out, my emotions were running high…"

"And?" Weiss asked after the other woman had trailed off. "There's certainly more to it than that, all three of us have seen you when your emotions come rushing out, how you can lose control and just act without thinking."

"Yeah, well I'd certainly lost control," Blake said, looking out of the window, "and Yang was there to help me calm down, and I…"

"Did you hit her?"

"No, no I, uh, I, uh, I kissed her…" Blake said, blushing.

"You what!?" Weiss yelled in shock, her foot slipping off the brake, causing the van to roll slightly into the car in front of them before Weiss could reapply it.

"I kissed her," Blake said again, her face growing even darker red. "I was sitting there next to her, and I was calming down, or at least I thought I was, and I looked at her, and I just felt something well up inside me, and I just, I just kissed her."

"Okay," Weiss said, letting out a short laugh.

"It's not funny!" Blake said, sounding frightened.

"I'm not laughing at you. My body was just relaxing, and it came out like that." Weiss shook her head. "So, what did Yang do? Did she kiss back?"

"No, what? No. Why would you even ask that?" Blake asked, looking at Weiss incredulously.

"Because I still don't know what to expect from her sometimes," Weiss said honestly. "Did she react badly?"

"Well," Blake took a deep breath, calming down, "she didn't react at all. It only lasted for a second, if even that. As soon as I did it, I freaked out and broke away from it."

"And after that?" Weiss asked, beginning to drive again after the light changed.

"Well, she comforted me some more until I fully calmed down, and then, we didn't really talk about it," Blake admitted. "We made our way to the car, and just talked about random things, like some of my books she read, or that movie we saw last month, and how it's apparently the thirteenth in a series instead of just the third like we thought it was."

"And that was it?"

"Well… almost, after she talked with you last night, we talked a bit again, and I tried bringing it up again, but she just said it was alright, and I just, I don't know what to do about this."

"Well," Weiss paused to think for a moment, "I guess the most important question, is how do you feel about Yang?"

"I don't know," Blake said honestly. "And that's the problem. I'd never thought of her as anything more than a friend, but after what I felt, I just... can't figure it out."

"Well, if you figure out that you do like Yang, tell her. No matter what happens, it'll be better than just keeping it bottled up, trust me," Weiss said, sounding as if she was speaking from experience. "But, if you figure out you don't like her, and it really was just an 'in the moment' thing, it'll blow over. I doubt Yang wants to lose her best friend any more than you do." Blake nodded slowly.

* * *

"Hey Rubes," Yang said, greeting her sister in the hallway outside their rooms. Both of them were in their pajamas, and Yang's prosthetic arm was detached, with the coupling covered. "Did you sleep well?"

"No," Ruby admitted. "You?"

"No," Yang let out a short laugh as they started making their way down the stairs. "Hey," her voice quickly grew somber, "I need to talk to you about Blake."

"Is this about what happened last night?" Ruby asked.

"No, well, yes, but it's not what you think," Yang said as they turned towards the kitchen.

"What happened then?" Ruby asked.

"Hang on," Yang said, as she opened the door into the kitchen, and nodded as she saw it was empty. Closing the door behind them, Yang continued, "Well, Blake kissed me."

"WHAT!?" Ruby yelled, before clamping her hands over her mouth. The two of them waited in silence for nearly a minute before Ruby pulled her hands away, "Are, are you two dating now?"

"No," Yang said, taking a seat. "As soon as it started, she pulled away and started freaking out some more."

"So, what's going to happen with the two of you?"

"I don't know," Yang said. "If I'm being honest, when it happened I felt… excited. But I can't tell if it was because of who was kissing me, or if it was because it was the first time I've kissed anyone since I was at Signal. It kinda felt like my first kiss all over again."

"I would say I know what you mean, but when I had my first kiss I was terrified that you were going to kill the guy."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Yang said, letting out a laugh, which helped her calm down a bit.

"No you don't," Ruby smiled mischievously, "my first kiss was at Signal."

"Oh, well," Yang stopped and looked over at her sister in disbelief for a moment before shaking her head. "Anyway, I don't know what to do, and it's bothering me. I've dated girls before, I've dated faunus before, and there was probably at least one girl faunus in there somewhere, but this is different. Blake is my best friend, and I don't want to lose that."

"Well, who says that you have to?" Ruby asked. "I mean, yeah, she must have kissed you for a reason, but you've stayed friends with exes you've had some pretty nasty breakups with in the past. If you do like her back, then all's well, but if you don't, I don't see any reason why you won't be able to figure things out."

"Yeah, well, take it from someone with more experience in this than you, even with your little revelation to me," Yang said, slumping in her chair, "there are plenty of reasons why even an amicable breakup can turn sour down the road."

"Maybe, but we've had a good track record for staying friends with our exes," Ruby pointed out. "Look at Weiss and Neptune. And even Blake and Sun have talked a few times recently."

"Same with you and Scarlet?" Yang smiled.

"Hey, hey, hey," Ruby said, growing flustered. "We've never dated. I hate it when people do that."

Yang laughed, feeling a little better. "Maybe, but you can't deny that he's a little sweet on you."

"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised," Ruby said. Before either of them could say anything else, they heard what sounded like an angry snarl come from the next room. "I guess Weiss is up." Walking into the room, they saw not Weiss, but Winter, sitting up on the couch. "Or, I guess it's a family thing," Ruby muttered.

"After last night, I'm going to go with the family thing," Yang said, walking around the couch. "What happened?" Winter didn't say anything and just pointed at her scroll. Yang picked it up, and began reading. There were three messages that were open on it, the first was from Weiss, letting her know where she and Blake had gone. The second was from Scarlett. _Winter, I'm so sorry, I wish I could have done something to stop this. If you want, you can stay with me. _Confused, Yang read the next message, which was from the company.

_Dear Winter Schnee,_

_It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that your reserved position within the Schnee Dust Company has been terminated indefinitely by order of Eis Schnee. Furthermore, I'm so sorry, I can't continue on like this. Your father is beyond livid after what happened last night. He's cleaning his hands of everything to do with it, and because you went with Weiss and the faunus girl, I haven't been able to get her name, that's including you. Scarlett said that she's going to try and get your things for you, but neither you nor your sister are to get anywhere near the company headquarters or the family's building. Currently it's all unofficial, but I don't think it's going to stay that way for long. He's also cutting the funding for Weiss' and her friends' apartment. I'm so sorry, and I wish there was something I could do, officially, to help._

_Viridian_

"Your dad couldn't even bother to deliver this message himself!?" Yang yelled, feeling disgusted as she handed the scroll over to Ruby.

Winter shook her head, "Father's never been one to go about handling things he doesn't like himself. I'm pretty sure it's actually a part of Viridian's job description that he has to send out all the nasty messages father can't be bothered with."

Ruby shook her head, "So, what are you going to do? Stay with Scarlett?"

Winter shrugged, "I don't know, I don't want to cost Scarlett her job, but where else have I to go?"

Ruby and Yang looked at each other and nodded. "Well," Ruby said, "Looks like we're going to need all the help we can get if we want to stay here."

"You mean this apartment?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "It's grown on us, and we've seen the price before. With the four of us pitching in, along with the fact that Atlas subsidizes living conditions for the military and Huntsmen, we can afford what remains. We've already spent plenty on furnishing it to our liking, so that's one huge expense out of the way. If Weiss and Blake are fine with it, I don't see why it would be a problem."

"I couldn't just live off of you," Winter said, unsure.

"Well, then it's a good thing you see it that way," Yang said, picking up on Ruby's wording earlier, "because we weren't expecting you to. The four of us might be able to afford the place with help, but a fifth hand bringing in money would certainly make things go smoother."

"What could I do?" Winter asked. "I've never had to work a day in my life before now, and I've just had my money cut off."

"Well, what were you going to do at the SDC when you started working there?" Ruby asked.

"I was going to begin with Dust research."

"Wait, how old are you?" Yang asked.

"I'm about two months away from turning eighteen."

"And you were just going to jump straight into research?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"Well, yes. As a Schnee, I've learned the ins and outs of Dust for as long as I can remember. I just finished my most recent, and final, amount of coursework on it a few weeks ago." Ruby and Yang looked at each other. "What is it?"

"Well, you'll have to find something else to do over the next two months, but we know a position you might be able to get into when you turn eighteen with all that know-how," Ruby said.

"What is it?" Winter asked, looking hopeful.

"Well, it would be doing R and D under Ironwood with the military," Yang said, grimacing.

"No, no, no I couldn't," Winter started arguing.

"Well, why not?" Ruby asked, looking away. "Ironwood has said that with all Weiss knows about Dust, she'd do great in the department if she wanted to change careers. If you've been working towards research this entire time, there's no reason you wouldn't be able to get accepted as soon as you came of age."

Winter sighed, "Working for the military, that's definitely not something I'd have ever thought I'd be considering."

"Yeah, well how about a job working somewhere at Ao Plaza?" Yang asked. "Because until you do turn eighteen, that might be the best you'll be able to do." Winter blanched at the thought, but nodded slowly until her eyes fell on the metal covered stump that was Yang's right arm. "Oh this?" Yang laughed awkwardly. "Let's just leave it as a bad run in with the White Fang."

"So your arm is..."

"Fake, yeah. It's thanks to General Ironwood that I got it too," Yang said. "I usually put it on as soon as I'm out of the shower and at least partially changed in the morning, but I got distracted," she glanced up at Ruby. Winter just nodded slowly.

* * *

"Oh, solid ground, I've missed you!" Neptune said, nearly collapsing to the ground after stepping on ground that wasn't slightly shifting back and forth for the first time in two weeks.

"Hey, ships aren't that bad," Scarlet said, strolling up next to him without problems as Neptune finally did collapse onto the ground.

"Yeah, well, neither of you are exactly good people to talk about how a normal person is at sea," Sage said, walking up behind the two of them. Sun coming up from behind the rest of his team.

"How was the trip?" Weiss asked, smiling at Neptune.

"Eh, kind of boring," Sun said. "Although we had a problem with a few Nevermores a few days back. Nice break from the monotony. Anyway, what did we miss?"

"A lot, actually," Weiss said.

"You can fill us in on the way to your place," Neptune said, standing back up.

"Well, I hope you're ready for a slow drive," Weiss said, looking over at Blake, and muttering, "Do you want to talk with Sun a bit before we head off?"

Blake thought for a moment, before nodding slowly, and motioning towards him. "Hey," he said lamely as he started walking with her.

"Hey," Blake said awkwardly as they walked down the docks for a bit.

"So, this is the first time we've actually seen each other since… well since we broke up," Sun said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, it is," Blake said, looking at him. His outfit was effectively the opposite of what she'd ever seen him wear before. Because of the colder climate, he'd replaced his open shirt with a white coat fit for the weather, with the hood currently down, as was Blake's. The red bracers he'd worn on his forearms were still there, on top of the coat's sleeves and his gloves. His pants were now black, insulated, and extended downwards into a pair of small black boots. His tail, however, was still hanging out. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright," Sun said, looking out at the number of ships coming into and leaving the harbor. "Spending time with my team, having fun, worrying about you and the others because of what's happened."

"Yeah, well, we haven't run into that woman at all since that day," Blake said.

"That's good I guess, anything else happen instead?"

"I wish I could say no," Blake admitted. "But yesterday was a train wreck." She waited for Sun to say something, but when he kept quiet, she continued, "Eis Schnee himself had a huge meltdown when he found out that he'd been kept in the dark for so long about there being a faunus on Weiss' team. On our way here, Weiss got a message on her scroll saying that he's effectively disowning her, and her sister because she took our side."

"That seems a little… extreme," Sun said, shaking his head. Blake nodded slowly. "How are you doing after that?"

"Well, we talked it over a bit on the way here, and Winter's probably going to be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Personally, I'm doing alright from everything that's happened. I'd seen anger like his all the time when I was with the Fang," Blake said, lowering her voice near the end so that only Sun could hear. "It's terrible, but I've learned how to deal with it."

Sun nodded slowly. "I'm sure Yang was probably there to help out too." Blake froze at the mention of Yang's name. "What? Did something happen with Yang too?"

"Yes, but... it's nothing bad, just something I need to figure out," Blake said, turning back around towards the rest of the group.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out," Sun said confidently. Blake smiled.

"So, are we ready to go?" Weiss asked. When everyone gave the affirmative, they set off back towards the minivan.

"When did you buy that?" Neptune asked.

"A few days ago apparently," Weiss said.

As they walked away, two sailors walked out of the ship and onto the dock, already in mid conversation. "It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it?"

**A/N4: So, let's talk about the kiss first. I think Volume 2 showed that despite Blake's general demeanor, she's a very emotional person, and she's, in canon, getting better at showing it to her friends. Now, when she does show it, it's all well and good and she gets it out and it doesn't build up, but the impression I got from Episode 15 of Volume 1, when she ran away, was that when she keeps her emotions buried, when that dam breaks, it shatters, and she loses control for a bit and acts without thinking, and I tried, keyword tried, to get that across within the chapter. I got the same feeling again when Blake and Yang were arguing in Volume 2, and that's why I played out the chapter like I did. Reason being? Well, the gala was high stress event for Blake due to being in such close proximity to Eis Schnee for so long, on top of her reexperiencing a fear I imagine was probably in her mind the entire time she wore her bow before: What if it just came off or undone in front of a large group of people? Here the two came together, and, well, the dam shattered. These things together lead to a big story development that I had originally planned on happening quite a bit later, their first kiss.**

**A/N5: So, I didn't plan about… half of this chapter if not more. It all started when I realized that Mercury and Emerald were going to be in close proximity to Team RWBY at the event, and I remembered (and by that I meant I was rereading the end of chapter 4 to make sure I was keeping things consistent) that I made it clear they know the truth about Blake already, so I thought "well, they clearly hate Adam, so what's something they could do to screw with him," and one thing lead to another, and the chapter just kept getting longer, and longer, and longer with things I hadn't originally planned on happening. I want to point out, that this chapter only covered HALF of the scenes I wanted to get written (the gala and Team SSSN arriving in town), but the chapter just grew so long I cut it off. Yes, let it be known that even I, the author, can be surprised by the direction the story takes. And that what I wanted to get done on chapter ten is now going to be on eleven instead, but I'm fine with that because it just means that something else is going to be chapter ten that I'm perfectly fine with.**

**A/N6: So, for anyone wondering about why I made Eis Schnee short, I just think that it's hilarious that this man that has so much power within the city is completely unintimidating physically.**

**A/N7: No, I'm not doing RubyXScarlet, I just think it's funny to mess around with it a little bit because they're both associated with the color red.**

**A/N8: Yes, I was planning on having the RvB reference that bookends this chapter from the beginning, well the first part, I added the last part when I cut it off. The movie being the 13th in the series… that was thrown in, it was originally going to be the 6th, but I changed it for Season 13. And yes, that does mean that the team watched a movie with characters being voiced by their own VAs, let's get even more meta, just without the influences of Sigma.**

**A/N9: Teams RWBY, SSSN, JNPR, Ozpin, Ironwood, Eis, Amber, Oobleck, Scarlett, Beige, Adam, MW, Albero, Penny, all of these characters, I know, in general, where I'm going to be taking them down the road. One character, however, that I don't know what I'm going to do with is Winter. I wrote her into the story because she's a real character in canon, mentioned, but not directly appearing, in Volume 2, but I never meant to include her as more than just a minor character, but, as part of pretty much every other turn this chapter took, I wrote what felt "write" with her (hurr hurr hurr, I can't believe I just did that, I blame both Barbara and Chuggaaconroy), but I have no guiding idea on what to do with her, so that's probably going to be the one of the first things I'm going to be figuring out for the next chapter.**

**A/N10-P: So, Neptune's apparently afraid of water. I had to come back and edit this to include that because oh my god that's amazing.**


	9. Another Day, Another Mission

**A/N1: Yet another shake up in the chapter orders. Basically, because of how the events are playing out currently, I wrote this chapter and the next as if it was one chapter with the intent of splitting them up at the end. Because of this, this chapter was cut off at a slightly different point than it was originally supposed to. Meaning that how my original vision of how Chapter 8 was supposed to end will instead be in Chapter 10. On top of that, Chapter 10 will cover the events it was supposed to in my original vision of things, with the original Chapter 9, which was moved to 10 after 8 was split up, has been moved to Chapter 11. Beyond that, because this chapter and the next were written as one chapter, the Author's Notes that would have been at the end of this chapter will instead be at the end of the next, which is nearly but not quite done and should be uploaded next week.**

**A/N2-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. If you've already read a chapter with this message on it, then go on, if not, for the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

Beige closed the door of his apartment behind him, feeling tired. He slowly made his way over to the couch, and sat down. He then leaned back, closed his eyes to relax, and sat there for several minutes until he heard some footsteps enter the room. "Hey Sil," he said, even sounding tired, "I didn't realize you were home." The footsteps stopped and there was no reply. "Sil?" Beige opened his eyes and looked around the room. The apartment was a simple design with a combined living room and kitchen set up, a single bathroom off the side of the main room, and a single bedroom next to it. Beige saw no one else in the room. "Sil, are you here?" Beige looked over at the door to the bathroom, seeing it wide open, and the room behind it was empty. "Silver?" Beige walked around the couch towards the bedroom. Seeing it was empty, Beige shook his head, and sat down on the bed. Lying down, he sighed and closed his eyes.

Beige was woken up by the sound of the apartment's door slamming closed. "Bad day?" he called out. When he didn't get a response, Beige climbed back out of the bed and walked out of the bedroom into the main room of the apartment, and saw nothing. "Again? Sil, are you here?" He turned his head to look at the back of the room where the kitchen setup was, which was also empty. "Silver?" He walked farther into the room, feeling worried. "Serebro?" He walked over to the bathroom, the light was on this time, but the door was still open. Walking inside, Beige stopped dead. Silver was lying in the bathtub, fully clothed, and covered in blood. "Sil!" Beige yelled out in terror as he hurried over to her, nearly tripping over himself as he reached the edge of the tub.

Beige's eyes shot open. He was still lying in his bed, his otherwise bare chest covered in a cold sweat. Beige covered his face with his right hand as he took several deep breaths to calm down. He then rolled over in the bed, his eyes falling on his wife lying next to him. Silver's face was peaceful in her sleep as her arms were wrapped around a pillow. Beige smiled as he began to relax and reached over and ran his fingers through her hair. Silver mumbled a bit as her arms let go of the pillow as she rolled onto her stomach. Beige moved the pillow out of the way, and moved closer to her to kiss her cheek. He then ran his hand down her back and began to stroke her tail, something that had always helped him relax. Silver began shifting a bit in her sleep before gradually beginning to make a harsh sound that would have left anyone who had never been around a fox recoiling in surprise or fear. For Beige, however, it brought about a smile to his face.

After a few moments, the sound died down as Silver shifted in place again. "You know," she said, shifting closer to him as she opened her eyes a bit, "normally I'd be fine with waking up to my tail being stroked like that, but not when it's at what feels like two in the morning."

"Yeah, well I couldn't sleep," Beige said, moving his arms to hold her in them.

Silver nodded slowly, "Another nightmare?" Beige nodded in response. "Let me guess," she shifted back onto her side again, placing her hand against the burn on his jaw, "about Crystal." He shifted uncomfortably at the touch because he could feel the warmth and touch of her hand on either side of the burn, but not on the burn itself.

"Not this time," Beige's arms tightened a bit around her, "this time it was you."

Silver removed her hand from his face and put her arms around him, as she bowed her head into his shoulder, closing her eyes again. "Oh," she said lamely, surprised and unable to come up with anything else to say.

"Elections are today," Beige said, suddenly changing the topic.

"Oh," Silver said again, this time just in surprise, "yes, it is. I guess we just have to wait and see now."

* * *

"Where's Winter?" Weiss asked, walking into the apartment, carrying several bags.

"Still out looking for a job," Yang answered, taking the bags from her and walking towards the dining room and kitchen.

Weiss nodded, "What about the guys?"

"Meeting with Ironwood," Blake said, picking several things up around the room.

"Yeah, well that was us yesterday," Ruby said, walking in with more bags. Yang audibly groaned from the dining room at that. "So, how's the election results coming along?"

"Interestingly," Blake answered, pointing towards her scroll on the table. Weiss nodded and walked over to check it as Ruby followed her sister into the dining room.

"Eight percent!?" Weiss said in shock. "He was only projected to get three. How did Beige manage that?"

"I don't know," Blake said, smiling, "but I'm fine with it, the votes aren't even fully counted yet for the full city." Weiss nodded again, as she pulled out her own scroll and began looking through it.

"So, are either of you going to help us in here?" Yang asked, sticking her head out of the dining room.

"In a minute," Weiss said. "I think I found out how he did it, and I think you'll like it, Blake."

"Really, why?" Blake looked over. Weiss responded by walking over and showing Blake her scroll. "What is this?"

"This is a map showing voter turnout twenty years ago. Red shows lower turnout, blue is higher."

"Okay, I'm seeing a few red patches with a very large one on the edge of the city between Ao and Schnee Plazas." Weiss nodded, and switched to a different map, this one from fifteen years ago. The legend on the lower corner elaborated on Weiss's basic description, showing that red meant that less than half of the area's able population voted, with darker colors showing even fewer votes, and blue meant that more than half the population voted, with darker blues meaning that higher numbers voted. Most of the city was varying shades of lightish blue in this one, but the dark red patch in the side of the city remained. Before she could say anything, Weiss switched to another map, this one from ten years ago, and the dark red patch remained, and was, if anything, a darker shade of red than the previous two maps, with a few other areas being red in color again. "What are you trying to say?"

"The red areas are the neighborhoods with the highest faunus populations in the city, with the large dark red area being where most of the faunus in the kingdom live and has the highest concentration of people living in a given area out of any of the four kingdoms," Weiss flipped to a different map, this one from the previous Grand Council election from five years prior, the dark red area was even larger, with the other red patches being even darker. "They've been voting less and less over the last few elections. Last year had the lowest on record for anything since they were granted suffrage in the first place."

"What changed this time?" Blake asked, thinking she's already aware of the answer. Weiss responded by switching to the next map, the dark areas were still red, but were significantly lighter in shade than any of the previous maps, the southern part of the entire city was black however.

"It's live updating, but the part of the city that's normally red is currently being counted. The southern part still hasn't even begun counting yet, hence why it's black," Weiss said, putting her scroll away.

Blake couldn't help but smile broadly, "He got them to vote again."

Weiss nodded, "I think that's what he was going for the entire time, and it's certainly showing, there's a lot of them in that area, and they certainly have weight at elections, they just never made use of it."

"I'm so glad we're going out to eat tonight," Ruby said in the apartment's kitchen, closing their fridge.

"Yeah, well I don't think any of us wants to cook for nine people," Yang said, sitting down. "We have a hard enough time bringing ourselves to cook just for the four, uh, five who live here." Yang stretched her arms. "Still getting used to Winter being here."

"To be fair, we may have only been living here for just over a month," Ruby said as they left the room, "but it's only been the four of us living together for four years." Yang nodded as the two of them walked into the living room. As they entered the room, the front door opened and Winter walked in, not looking pleased.

"Thanks for the help by the way," Yang said, looking between Blake and Weiss before looking up at Winter. "So, how's the job hunt going?"

"Well, without fail wherever I went I was met with a question. The two most popular being 'Why are you here?' and 'Why should I believe you're the real Winter Schnee if you're coming here for work?'"

"Well, did you actually get employed?" Weiss asked, looking at her sister. Winter nodded. "What is it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Winter said, walking upstairs.

"My guess is something menial," Yang said, taking a seat.

"Is there any job she could get around here that's not menial right now?" Blake asked.

"True, but hey, Ironwood did say he'd hire her for his R&amp;D department when she turned eighteen, she just needs to... wait for a short while," Ruby said.

"I'm pretty sure most of it is just her adjusting to a dramatically different prospect for her life than she was expecting," Blake pointed out.

"I could understand that at first, but she hasn't really talked to me since the night she first came here," Weiss shook her head. "I thought we'd worked things out then, but I guess not."

"Well, that was also before you got the messages about what your dad was going to do," Ruby pointed out.

Weiss nodded, looking glum. "So, what do I do?" she asked after a minute.

"I'd say talk to her," Yang suggested. "That's always useful." Weiss nodded again and slowly walked upstairs. She paused outside of her room, before walking inside. Winter was going through the closet that the two of them had started sharing after Winter had picked up what she could from Scarlett.

"How are you doing?" Weiss asked, closing the door. Winter didn't say anything, she didn't even acknowledge that her sister was in the room. "Look, I know it's hard to adjust."

Winter stopped what she was doing for a moment and just glared into the closet. "Two weeks ago, no _a_ week ago, I was ready to take my position within the company when I finished my studies. Then five days ago, everything came crumbling down after one bad night. How do you think I'm doing?" Winter said, turning to look at her older sister. Weiss walked over and hugged her sister, who pushed her away. "No, don't even try that right now. You've never been a hugging person anyway."

Weiss let out a short laugh, "True, but I've had some good friends show me how much a hug can help," Weiss face fell seeing Winter glaring at her. "And you're not exactly alone. I was set to take over the company when father stepped down, or, more likely, passed away."

"Maybe," Winter said, shaking her head, "but you still have the job you've spent your entire life preparing for, I don't, and now I never will, instead I have to work for the military to get close to what I should have been doing." Before Weiss could say anything else, Winter stormed out of the room. Weiss remained behind for a few moments before leaving the room herself, the sound of the shower filling the hallway from the bathroom at the end.

"So, how'd the talk go?" Ruby asked as Weiss walked back downstairs.

"Badly," Weiss admitted begrudgingly as she collapsed onto the couch.

"Give her some time," Yang said, glancing over at Ruby for a moment. "She's got to be under a lot of stress right now."

"I'm pretty sure Blake said the same thing before I went up," Weiss said, glaring at the ground, "but she doesn't seem to want to even give me the time of day anymore." Yang opened her mouth, but Weiss cut her off, "When do we head out tonight?"

"Around six," Ruby answered.

* * *

"So, there, we've applied to work at the SDC," Emerald said, taking a seat across from Adam. "So, what now?"

"Well, I would have said wait and see what happens," Adam answered, an angry tone in his voice that was tempered by a sarcastic edge that even the most oblivious of people couldn't have missed. "But some new information came to my attention just a few moments ago."

"And what has come to our master's attention now?" Mercury asked, his own snark coming out in a seemingly instinctive response to Adam's.

"Only your involvement in the premature end of the SDC's recent event," Adam said, his face contorted in an ugly expression that his mask actually made look more pleasant. "It seems that a black haired man caused Blake's bow to come off."

"And you think that was me?" Mercury asked, his tone controlled from years of practice.

"I don't see who else it could be," Adam said, his voice filling with venom. "I know how Blake wears her bow. A simple hit on the back wouldn't have been enough for it to come off, even if she was knocked forward. No, it would require a pull on the bow itself to come off."

"And how could you have possibly learned about how it came off?" Mercury said, his composure still not faltering.

"That is unimportant, what is important is how I'm going to deal with you," Adam said, his expression so fierce that Mercury could nearly feel the intensity of his gaze from behind the slits in the mask. "So, how shall I begin?" He rested his hand on Blush hanging from his hip. Mercury tried maintaining his composure, but he couldn't prevent some color draining from his face.

* * *

"Reservation for RWBY, table of nine," Ruby said, as the team, and Winter, were walking into the restaurant. They were all in their everyday outfits, but none of the Huntresses had their weapons on them.

"Right his way," the Maitre' d said, beginning to lead the group to a large table in the back of the crowded restaurant. The team sat on one side of the table, with Ruby and Yang sitting in the center with Weiss and Blake to their sides. Winter sat on the short side of the table next to Weiss. Nearly ten minutes later, the four members of Team SSSN were led to the table as well and took their own seats, Sun and Neptune sitting across from Blake and Weiss with Scarlet and Sage taking seats across from Ruby and Yang.

"So, how'd your meeting with Ironwood go?" Weiss asked politely

"Very long," Neptune said.

"Beyond the obvious," Scarlet said to Neptune. "We're going to be patrolling around the city for a while."

"I'm sorry, I thought you weren't going to be stating the obvious," Yang said, getting a number laughs from the table.

"Well, that's pretty much all we talked about," Scarlet shrugged.

"Ironwood just went over the areas we're going to be visiting and how long we're expected to patrol for before we're given our freedom," Sage explained. "What about your discussion with him yesterday?"

"Well," Ruby started, "seeing as how we've completed our patrolling-"

"Bar Yang," Scarlet pointed out.

Ruby smiled a bit before continuing on, "we would have been given the go ahead to take the missions we want, but there's been a dramatic increase in Grimm activity to the north of the city. They've had some droids out in the area taking some of them down, but the numbers keep increasing, so we're going to head out tomorrow to try and find out what's attracting them to that area specifically."

"How far north?" Neptune asked.

"A few miles," Weiss said. "Far enough that nothing would have been thought of it had the droids managed to take them out, but close enough that an ongoing gathering is worrying."

"So how long are you going to be out for?" Sun asked. "It can't be all that long with how cold it is here, farther north away from the ocean must be colder."

"You'd be right," Weiss said. "We'll be out for three full days, and if we can't find the source, we'll be brought back, then rest a day, then be sent back for another three days."

"Although," Yang interrupted. "We're being capped at four trips before we get an extended break because it's even colder than the surrounding areas in the specific place we're heading because it's up on a decently high plateau."

"So, what do they think is bringing them to the area so far?" Scarlet asked, curious.

"They don't know," Blake said. "The plateau is huge and forested. Ironwood would prefer sending out multiple teams at once. But as things stand now, the only available team other than us is you."

"So, why not send us along as well?" Neptune asked, feeling confused by the decision.

"Because it's not a high priority and you've yet to work at all here in Atlas," Weiss explained. "So you're required to patrol a bit before you head out. And besides, as it stands, you'll be the ones replacing us if we can't find anything after four attempts unless another group decides to take the mission themselves, or the city's Huntsmen council or Ironwood decide to send others, which is a distinct possibility given the size of the area. But for now, just us." Neptune nodded, smiling at the white haired woman.

"Wasn't your first mission doing something outside of just patrolling?" Sun asked.

"Yes, but that _was _a high priority. Also, we hadn't completed our graduation mission yet," Weiss explained, prompting Sun to nod as well, in understanding if not in approval.

"So, the higher ups don't have an idea about what could be causing the sudden increase of Grimm in the area, but what about you?" Winter asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Well," Ruby said. "The two most common reasons to cause a sudden influx of Grimm are a large decaying Grimm corpse or…" she trailed off.

"Or what?" Winter looked between the faces of the eight older people, none of them looking happy.

"Or, a disaster affecting a small town," Sage explained. "Granted, Atlas doesn't have any towns outside the walls, but it's just not something pleasant to think about regardless."

"What about mines?" Winter asked, sounding a little worried.

"There aren't any mines there, at least not anymore," Weiss said, trying to calm her sister. "The plateau we're heading to is on Valak Mountain." Winter nodded, but her face didn't look pleased. "Valak Mountain," Weiss began explaining as she turned to the rest of the table, "is the location of the first mine that the SDC ran, and for a long time it was the most lucrative by a very large margin."

"Well," Winter cut in, her tone unfriendly, "it technically predates the company. The original company that ran the site went bankrupt and our grandfather took over and founded a new company to finish mining the mountain, but there was so much Dust in the area, the company rapidly grew and several other mining sites were established alongside it."

"Right…" Weiss nodded slowly, clearly put off by Winter's interruption and tone. "But, eventually it ran out of Dust to give around fifty three years ago, and it was just abandoned. Supposedly there's a ghost town of company buildings that were just left overnight within the forest, but everyone that worked there has passed away. Mines aren't the safest place to work even today, fifty to sixty years ago, it was a lot worse."

"So, when do you head out?" Sun asked.

"We head to Ironwood's office for some more preparations at noon, and head out by bulkhead later that day," Blake answered as a waitress came around to take their orders.

Sun nodded, while Sage looked over at Winter, "So, Winter, have you found a job yet?"

"I have," Winter said, looking down.

Sage opened his mouth, but was cut of by Yang, "Don't bother, she hasn't even told us what it is yet." Sage nodded, as Weiss excused herself from the table.

After Weiss was out of sight, Winter looked up at Neptune, "So, you dated my sister, right?"

"I did," Neptune said, surprised as everyone else at the table laughed, Yang the hardest and Blake the least.

Winter stopped for a moment, surprised by the reaction, "What happened?"

"Well," Neptune let out a short laugh. "It was a bit rocky."

"That's an understatement," Yang said, laughing again.

"What?" Winter asked, feeling increasingly lost as she looked between the amused looks of everyone at the table.

"Let's just say that mister cool's facade broke rather quickly," Scarlet snickered. "True he admitted to some faults early on, but there's certainly more than just dancing he's bad at." Neptune didn't say anything, instead his face just suggested that he wished he was dead, prompting Scarlet to laugh even harder, nearly matching Yang in intensity.

"I, I don't…" Winter was feeling confused and was beginning to wish she hadn't brought the conversation up.

"Basically," Sage began explaining, "Neptune likes to act cool, but when you get to know him, he's a very different person. It leads to good friendship, but it didn't work out well when trying to be in a relationship."

"It wasn't the only one with issues," Yang said, before yelping a bit and rubbing both her sides, grabbing the attention of the entire table as both Ruby and Blake reached for their waters.

"So, what did I miss?" Weiss asked, returning to the table not long afterwards.

"Oh, not much," Yang answered, her arms moving back to her sides.

"Just some friendly conversation," Winter added, her tone clearly unfriendly. Weiss nodded slowly as Neptune looked at the girl.

* * *

Silver was staring at her scroll. "Eleven percent, that's incredible. I think you made an even larger impact than you'd planned on." Beige didn't say anything, instead he just closed the door to their bedroom behind him as he stepped out into their main room. Silver looked over at him, "What nothing to say- why are you wearing a tux?"

"You'll see soon enough," Beige said, extending his hand out to her. Feeling confused, Silver took his hand and let him led her out of their apartment, out onto the street and into a nearby building. From there, he led her to that building's elevator, and they rode it up to the top floor.

"Beige, where are we going?" Silver asked as they stepped out of the elevator and her husband led her through a series of hallways. Beige didn't answer, instead he continued walking. "Beige, it's nearly midnight, where are we going?"

"Right here," Beige answered as the two of them entered a large empty room. Large windows showed the shattered moon hanging overhead, providing natural lighting for the otherwise dark room. "Wait here," Beige said after leading her to the center of the room.

"What is this?" Silver asked, but Beige didn't answer. "Beige wha-" she stopped as the sound of a familiar piano piece began playing softly in the room. Beige walked back over to her, a large grin on his face as she stood there in silence, unsure of what was going on. Recognition flooded her mind as Beige grabbed one of her hands, and placed his other one on her waist, and began leading her in a dance. "This song played at our wedding."

"It did," Beige confirmed, smiling.

Silver smiled back, realizing what he was doing, and rested her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes while they danced slowly together. It was the same thing she'd done during their first dance together as husband and wife at their reception, to the same song currently playing. "I can almost hear the others dancing around us. My parents, your mother, our friends… This is amazing, I almost feel like I'm twenty six again." Silver opened her eyes and smiled more broadly as in her mind's eye she could see the other dancers and their smiling faces. Her childhood friends and coworkers from the time, who were mostly faunus. Beige's friends and the other soldiers from his old squad, who were mostly human. She could see her parent's smiling faces and her older brother, as well as Beige's long widowed mother sitting together and talking at a table while they laughed. "I can't remember the last time we did something like this," she closed her eyes again, enjoying the moment with her husband just as she'd done the night of their wedding.

"It's been too long," Beige said, resting his own head against hers. "It's like you said, this almost makes me feel twenty five again."

Silver laughed a bit, "It's hard to believe that we've nearly been married for twenty five years."

"Well, not quite nearly."

Silver moved her head to look at him curiously, "What do you mean?"

Beige smiled broadly and moved his head to the side. Silver looked over and saw a clock on the wall having changed to midnight a few moments ago. "Happy anniversary."

Silver smiled as broadly as she could as she turned back to her husband, and rested her head back on his shoulder, "This is perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I love you."

"I love you too, Sil," Beige said, resting his head back against hers as they continued to dance.

* * *

"How much longer do we have until we land?" Ruby asked as Weiss was going through her scroll. Before any of the others could answer, the airship's forward movement slowed dramatically.

"Oh, not long," Yang answered as the ship began to descend near the edge of a large cliff side.

"I thought this was a plateau," Ruby said, sounding a little put off.

"It is, but it's to the east of the mountain, not the south, this is just the only decent sized area that's open and safe enough to drop us off," Weiss answered as the ship came to a stop just above the ground. "Now let's go." Ruby nodded as the four women in the ship quickly jumped out.

"So, where do we begin searching?" Yang asked as the ship departed.

"Well," Weiss checked her scroll, "the remains of the old mining area is right along the edge of the mountain." The others nodded and they started off along the cliff side, a decent sized path heading alongside the edge of the mountain that angled upwards before turning north. As they walked, the path leveled out and gradually widened before they caught sight of the plateau moving outwards from the side of the mountain in front of them. "So this is what it looks like," Weiss said, almost sounding in awe.

"I was expecting less green and more white," Yang said. "Why isn't the area just covered in a ton of snow?"

"Most of this area's technically a desert," Weiss answered, checking her scroll again. "There's very little snowfall, with most of the snow that is there being ancient. There's enough ground water running beneath the ground to let the trees grow in this area, but that's about it, and going too far from the mountain leaves almost no vegetation at all."

"I thought deserts were supposed to be hot," Ruby said as she scanned the plateau. She'd thought it was going to be large, but it was easily larger than the entirety of Patch, which was more than enough for her to see why the Kingdom wanted more people to investigate than just them. The northern edge of the plateau didn't appear to be forested, and the northern expanse of the forest appeared far thinner and, in some places, dead.

"No, a desert just needs to have low rainfall and be mostly barren," Blake said as Weiss just shook her head. Blake moved her own eyes from the distant plateau to the path in front of them, which took a sharp downward angle before joining up with the plateau.

"And aside from the southern part of the continent, this entire area gets very little precipitation," Weiss added. "Now come on, we've still got two miles to go to the mine, and that's only after we get onto the plateau itself." Weiss checked her scroll again. The others nodded as they set off. The path was relatively straight when compared to most mountain pathways, especially natural ones as this one was, and they reached the edge of the plateau after only a few minutes. Even before reaching it, the path had widened to the point that trees had already surrounded them for a while.

They traveled through the area in relative silence for several minutes. "So, in a forest this dense, how did this wind up being a mine so long ago?" Yang asked as Weiss burned a small amount of undergrowth away before they continued forward.

"Because the area had a large amount of Dust deposits that were obvious on the surface to passing planes," Weiss said, moving on to another patch of undergrowth. The fires she created were small and controlled, enough to eliminate the growth but not damage the surrounding trees. "Large areas without growth and strange colorations get noticed easily."

Yang nodded as Blake stopped dead in her tracks and looked around, but couldn't see anything. The canopy of trees above them was thin enough to let light penetrate through, leaving the ground beneath in a state of twilight, but was thick enough to prevent them from seeing the sky beyond all that well if at all in certain places. "What is it?" Yang asked, being the only one to notice.

"I don't know," Blake said, closing her eyes. "I hear… something. But I can't make it out." She moved her head from side to side and pulled her hood down. As she moved her head, her ears moved back and forth atop it as she tried to get a good bearing on the sound. "It's coming from where we're heading, but that's all I can tell right now," Blake said as she put her hood back up. "But-" she stopped and quickly grabbed Gambol Shroud. "There's something coming through the area, fast."

The others readied their weapons as several crashing sounds soon reached them through the forest ahead. They all entered stances ready to attack whatever came through as they made slow but steady progress through more of the forest, but stopped dead as a herd of moose came charging through, completely ignoring the four women as they singlemindedly moved through the area, nearly striking Yang on their way. "Well, at least we know what caused the sound," Yang said, grumbling some choice words under her breath as the herd charged further into the distance.

Blake nodded, but the group remained silent for several seconds before Ruby said what was on all their minds. "Grimm don't attack animals, so what were they running from?"

"I don't know," Weiss said, her voice low, "but whatever it was, we're heading directly towards it."

"I guess we should get going to find out," Yang said, taking a step out into the forest ahead of them. "We can't be all thaaAAAA!" Yang yelled as she disappeared behind a particularly thick amount of underbrush.

"Yang!" Ruby and Blake both hurried after her, closely followed by Weiss. Behind the underbrush, they found a long, deep trench running through the forest. The trench was clearly artificial due to the upright and nearly perfectly flat designs of its walls. There were occasional patches where it had given way, but most of it was still held in place by the roots of various plants.

"Looks like we found part of the mine," Weiss said, taking a look at her scroll.

"This is a mine?" Yang asked, as she picked herself back up off the ground. "I was expecting to see it going into the side of the rest of the mountain, not looking like the remains of an ancient battlefield."

"The mines here are above ground, and the main area is a big hole in the ground. Tunnels, or trenches in this case, following lines of Dust off of the main mass are far from unheard of. Our first mission into mines consisted of tunnels following nothing but those side patches of Dust." Weiss said, surprising all three of the others by jumping into the trench alongside Yang. "And, in this case, it provides a direct and easy to follow path to the rest of the mine by heading that way," Weiss pointed down to the west, away from the side of the mountain. "According to my old map, that heads to the main quarry."

"You just happen to have a map of one of the SDC's old mines?" Yang asked skeptically as Ruby and Blake followed them into the trench.

"I don't just happen to have it," Weiss huffed. "Maps of abandoned mines aren't exactly company secrets. I downloaded it off the public site the night we were given this mission. Now let's go."

"Alright," Yang said, dusting herself off as they set off down the trench. "How did those moose not fall in here?"

"They probably knew it was here," Blake said, not even attempting to hide the smirk on her face.

"Quiet you," Yang said, holding a serious expression for a moment before cracking her own smile as the two of them laughed a bit. They continued down the trench for a decent distance before it turned northward again. Snow covered the bottom of the trench, but it was not deep in the slightest, and there were patches of exposed ground with some grass growing in patches on it, and even an occasional tree, some of them thick enough to prompt the group to exit the trench to move around it before climbing back in. Despite the occasional tree, however, the trench was clear of much obstruction, allowing for them to make decent progress. As they walked, the trench walls occasionally widened and thinned, and were even joined by other trenches along the way.

After walking north for a decent time, the walls of the trench widened significantly before opening up into a large open area that appeared identical to the rest of the forest. "This is the main quarry," Weiss said, looking around.

"It just looks like the forest sunk around ten feet," Ruby said, looking at the walls.

"Well, it has had half a century of growth since it was abandoned," Weiss said. "When they left, they filled in the lower levels of the mine with the soil heaps they'd taken out while mining. It's illegal to just leave a surface mine as is, the company needs to make some effort towards reclamation, even with it outside the walls of the Kingdom."

"That said," Blake looked around, "I've seen areas of forest that have been reclaimed before, this doesn't look like only fifty year's worth of growth, the trees in this part of the forest are enormous." Weiss bowed her head in acknowledgement.

"So, which way to the old buildings?" Yang asked, steering the conversation back to the important topic. Weiss indicated into the forest to their right. The others nodded, and they set off through the trees growing in the quarry. Coming across another thick set of underbrush, Weiss quickly made use of a controlled burn on it as well.

"Weiss, do that again," Blake said, pulling her hood down again.

"Why?" Weiss asked, curious, but did so anyway when she saw Blake's look of concentration as she closed her eyes. Feeling a little concerned, Weiss quickly set another patch of brush on fire. The crackling of the fire lasted for several minutes as the brush burned away, but after it went away, Blake's face grew dark.

"I hear a fire in the distance," she said, putting her hood back up as she looked over at Weiss. "It's coming from where you said the buildings would be." There was silence for a few moments as her words set in.

"I think we should get going there now," Yang said, setting off, the others following immediately behind her. As they continued through, the sounds of the fire grew louder in Blake's ears before making itself known to the others. Eventually they found some trees that were alight, but the snow caught in their branches, what little of it there was, was helping keep it at bay. "What could have caused this?"

"Lightning?" Ruby guessed, not feeling too sure of her answer.

"No, there hasn't been any storms in the area recently," Blake said, making Ruby, and everyone else, feel even more worried about the cause. As they continued onward, the fires dotting the trees became more and more numerous until they reached a large ramp exiting the quarry. Here, the heat of the fire was enough for the team to begin sweating. Once they walked up the ramp, it became even more obvious why. The buildings that had formed the mine's facilities had all been made of wood, more than likely from trees cut down in the same area, and almost every single one they could see was on fire. The only ones that weren't were so because they had already finished burning down, as was the remains of what had clearly been a wall and gate connecting to the mine.

"I think we found what scared all those poor moose earlier," Ruby said, sounding afraid.

"I think that was a given," Yang said, looking over at Weiss. "Can you put this out?"

"I'm already getting ready to try, let's just hope it's not too intense," Weiss answered, ejecting three cartridges from Myrtenaster's round chamber. The various types of Dust contained within them were blue, green, and red, representing the basic dust forms of ice, wind, and fire. Weiss handed Ruby the wind and fire cartridges and held the ice Dust out in her left hand, which glowed with her light blue Aura. A blue glyph appeared in front of her in response to her Aura. Weiss then handed Ruby the now nearly depleted ice cartridge and took the fire one, which she used to create a second, red glyph. Handing Ruby the fire cartridge, which didn't appear to have been touched at all, she then manipulated the two glyphs so that they appeared to merge together, as a third light blue glyph was created. Weiss then took the Wind Dust from Ruby and created yet another glyph, this one green in color, which she also combined with the light blue glyph in order to create one final glyph, this one teal in coloration.

Weiss then manipulated the glyph into the sky above them, where it began to rapidly spin in place. From the glyph, large amounts of water began to fly into the air around it and began falling from the sky as a powerful rain covering the area. From where they were standing beneath the cover of the trees, the four women were able to remain mostly dry while the fires that raged throughout the old mining area were extinguished by the precipitation. After nearly a minute, Weiss dismissed the glyph, ending the deluge. "I swear sometimes it's like you make up your powers," Yang said, looking out at the buildings.

"To an extent I can," Weiss said, taking the cartridges from Ruby and loading them back into Myrtenaster. The Wind Dust was still mostly filled like the Fire. "My glyphs allow me to manipulate and control how Dust forms and acts, but I'm limited by Dust knowledge, type, and amount. As it stands I was only able to do that because making water isn't exactly difficult nor overly resource intensive, I just needed to produce a lot of it because I didn't know how intense the fires were."

"Yeah, plus the time dilation, summoning..." Yang trailed off.

"Yeah, well those are well known powers of my family," Weiss defended.

"You're not exactly helping your case," Ruby pointed out.

"This doesn't just look like a mining facility, it looks like it used to be a full town," Blake interrupted as they made their way through the streets.

"Well that's because it was, or at least it had to function like one for extended stretches of time," Weiss said. "Modern airships weren't available for use by private companies until just over twenty years ago, and they didn't even exist at all until thirty years ago, and were only available for use by militaries and Huntsmen. When this place was built, it was designed to be fully self sufficient so that the workers wouldn't have to rely on air drops from passing airplanes, and ferrying workers to and from the area just wasn't feasible since the trip took several weeks with what land travel was available back then up and down the mountain. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say my family's company wouldn't have gotten started if the Kingdom had had a way to quickly get workers off the mountain after the company that started the mines here went bankrupt."

"I'm guessing setting the whole thing up is what made them go bankrupt in the first place," Ruby said, looking around.

"Actually yes," Weiss said. "The Dust that was here was enough to make the company a huge fortune, but the cost to set up was a small fortune in and of itself. Unfortunately, they only had a small fortune to work with, and ran out just as they were ready to start working. My grandfather had just enough money that he was able to purchase what was here, which was all going at a immense discount, and started what would become the SDC."

"And here I didn't imagine the Schnees as a rags to riches sort of family," Yang said.

"Well, that's because it wasn't," Weiss admitted freely. "Having just enough money to purchase an entire mining facility, even at a discount, isn't a small amount. Just like Heraclean Arms in Vacuo when they purchased all the R&amp;D info from the Ao family when they sold all their properties."

"Heraclean arms, which one is that?" Yang asked.

"It's the one where the company logo is a flexing arm," Blake answered, electing stares from the others since it hadn't been Ruby who'd answered. "I saw their company headquarters the one time I was in Vacuo, huge facility right off the side of the main train station."

"Oh them," Yang said, looking over at Ruby. "You had a ton of their catalogues over the years. Their motto's something like 'best under the stars'."

"It's 'You'll be remembered in the stars'," Ruby corrected, "and yeah, they make some of the best quality weapons currently on the market. Their closest competition comes from Mistral, who I think also bought up some of the Ao family's weapons info. I actually took some inspiration from both companies when it came to designing Crescent Rose."

"Okay, back on topic, we should probably look around the town a bit to see what caused the fire," Blake said, looking around.

"You're right," Ruby said. "Weiss, do you have a map of the town too?"

"I do," Weiss confirmed. "There's a large town square just down this road, we should be able to look around a bit from there." The others nodded, and they set off down the road. The further in they got, the less damaged the buildings became, and by the time they reached the square, the buildings were still fire damaged, but most of it was superficial, instead most of the damage was from years of rot and overgrowth. However, a few smaller fires were still burning here and there.

"You know, for a bunch of wooden buildings, this place is surprisingly well preserved," Yang noted.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Weiss said, looking around. "We came down the southern main road, the there are two others."

"Alright," Ruby said. "Weiss, you and I can take the one to the northwest, Blake and Yang, you two can take the other road. After we get to the end, we come back here." The others agreed, and set off, however, Blake and Yang's path was cut short when a smouldering part of a nearby building collapsed, the fire burning inside having been protected from Weiss' shower earlier. The wreckage was still alight and large enough to block most of the pathway, but not close enough to the other side to risk spreading.

"I don't think the town wants us going that way," Blake said.

"Yeah, well a little fire's not going to stop me," Yang said, stepping through the flames. Due to her Semblance producing fire, her Aura rendered her completely immune to the flames when it was protecting her.

"I hate it every time you do that," Blake said, walking around the fire.

"Why, afraid something's going to happen to me?" Yang asked teasingly.

"Something like that," Blake muttered to herself.

"I didn't quite catch that," Yang said as as Blake got closer to her.

"I said I'm afraid it's going to make the fire worse," Blake replied, a smile crossing her lips for the first time since they'd gotten to the town.

Yang laughed as they set off down the road. "So, do you have any idea what caused these fires?"

"No, but I want to know. It just doesn't seem natural," Blake answered as she looked around the area. The buildings in this part of the town were nearly untouched by the fire that had raged in the southern part of town. "Walking through here reminds me of Mountain Glenn."

"True, but at least it was abandoned for a very different reason than Mountain Glenn was."

"That's true, but it feels like there was so much potential lost here. Although, all things considered, it was probably a good thing they moved back to Atlas." Yang nodded, and they walked down rest of the main street, which wasn't all that long. Unlike the decently long path leading to the mine, the paths heading north in either direction were far shorter, something Ruby and Weiss were discovering at the same time.

"These streets seem like they'd be large enough to have dropped us off into pretty safely," Ruby said, looking around.

"True, but they probably didn't want to risk something hiding among the buildings blindsiding us," Weiss pointed out.

"Yeah, I can see- is that more smoke?" Ruby asked, looking above the roofs of the buildings ahead of them after having turned around.

"Yes, it is," Weiss answered, her voice sounding glum. "One of the missed patches must have grown larger again." Despite the assumption, the two of them hurried back, and once back in the town square, they stopped dead. The southern part of the town was once again alight with fire, and standing in the center of the square was a figure dressed all in black.

"You!" Yang's angry voice called out from the other northern street, her and Blake having arrived back as well. The woman in the center of the square turned around and looked between the two groups of Huntresses as they moved closer together to one another. The woman turned back to look at Ruby and Weiss, and she tilted her head a bit to the side as she appeared to gaze at the pair of them through her mask. After several moments, the woman took several steps toward the two of them before stopping dead in her tracks as she looked to her side. She wasn't looking at Blake and Yang, she wasn't even looking at the street they'd come from, instead she appeared to be looking down a random space between two buildings on the side of the square. She remained in this position for a few moments before bowing her head deeply and looking back up at Ruby and Weiss, still completely ignoring Blake and Yang. She then raised her right hand into the air and moved it down in front of her stomach as she made an overly exaggerated bowing motion to the pair of them. As she stood back up, a bright light covered her figure and she vanished before the eyes of the group.

"What just happened?" Ruby asked, as the four of them met up at the center of the square, where the woman had been.

"I wish I knew," Yang said. "That was weird, even taking into account our previous times seeing her. What was she looking at?"

"I'm guessing, that," Blake said, pointing. The others followed her gaze to see a large stone roof sticking up above the roofs of the wooden buildings around it.

"That," Weiss checked the map on her scroll, "would be the town church."

"Well," Ruby said, "that's our next destination."

* * *

Winter was lying down on the couch with her eyes closed. She wasn't trying to sleep, she wasn't even tired in the slightest. Instead, she was thinking. She was lost within her own conflicted feelings and thoughts. However, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a ringing of the doorbell. Winter shifted on the couch and stood up and walked over to the screen next to the door to see who was ringing. "Neptune?" she said, surprised, to herself, before clicking on the button to turn on the microphone. "The others left a few hours ago."

"I know," Neptune said. "Ironwood wants to meet with you."

"Now?" Winter asked, glancing over at a nearby clock. "It's getting late."

"Yes," Neptune nodded. "I came to drive you there."

"Alright," Winter said, "give me some time to get ready." Neptune nodded. Twenty minutes later, Winter exited the elevator putting on her coat. "Ready." Neptune didn't say anything and just nodded again as they walked out of the building.

"So, what's going on between you and Weiss?" Neptune asked, halfway to the parking structure.

Winter stopped. "You just came here to talk about her didn't you?"

"No," Neptune shook his head, turning around. "Well, I mean, I did volunteer so that I could talk about to you about her, but Ironwood does want to see you."

Winter nodded slowly, walking ahead of the older man. "There's nothing going on."

"Well, considering you clearly don't want to talk about it, somehow I doubt that's true," Neptune said, when Winter didn't respond, he continued. "I also saw how she looked at you yesterday. It wasn't happy, no, she looked sad."

"What's she have to be sad about?" Winter demanded begrudgingly. "She's got great friends, the job she's spent her whole life working towards, a nice place to live."

"Well, she also has a sister she loves dearly that's angry at her," Neptune added. Winter didn't say anything. "You should have seen her face when she was talking to me about how the two of you'd talked the day we arrived. She was overjoyed. No, she wasn't happy that you'd been caught up in her affairs, but she was happy thinking that the two of you'd made up."

"So this is my fault?" Winter asked, beginning to feel angry.

"No," Neptune said honestly, "but it's not Weiss's fault either. If anything it's your dad's fault."

"Oh that's…" Winter trailed of, looking down.

"I can understand wanting to be angry, but taking it out on Weiss isn't going to get you anywhere."

Winter laughed, "The thing is, I know that. I just…" She shook her head, trying to clear it.

Neptune nodded, "You've got some things to work out. I know, well, no I don't know, but I understand. If you don't know where to start, you've already done it once. You did it the night you just talked with her. I know that was before everything came out with what your dad was going to do, but that's why you need to do it again." Winter was the one to nod this time. "Now, come on, let's go." Winter just nodded again as they started moving along faster.

* * *

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, looking at him as they were sitting in the airship travelling from Beacon to Vale. Jaune didn't say anything, nor did he even acknowledge her, he was just staring out the window at the setting sun on the horizon. "Jaune," Pyrrha repeated, louder.

Jaune jumped a bit, "Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts."

"About Velvet?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, yeah," Jaune freely admitted. "She hasn't replied at all since we said we'd come check out what she found today."

"I'm sure she's alright, we've all been busy," Pyrrha said, trying to comfort him.

"I know, I know," Jaune said as the airship touched down. "It's just everything that's been happening." Pyrrha nodded as the filed out of the airship and met up with Nora and Ren who were waiting in the city. "So did you two fin-"

"No," Nora interrupted him in her normal excited tone. "But the police did, just not about her."

"Um… what?" Jaune looked from Nora to Ren.

"One Hei Xiong was found seemingly comatose in his nightclub in the northern part of town a few days ago," Ren explained. "He's currently being cared for in a nearby hospital while the police search through the club. Thus far they've found nothing to confirm their suspicions that he is, in fact, the crime boss named 'Junior', at least nothing they've released to the public."

"I would complain about losing a source for info, but if him being off the streets leads to a dip in crime, I can't really bring myself to," Jaune said. "So, should we get going to Velvet's?" Nora nodded and quickly ran off. Jaune just stared off after her for a second before shaking his head.

"We hailed a cab earlier, and had him waiting," Ren explained. Jaune nodded, still amazed that Nora could leave him temporarily speechless. They made their way after Nora and took the cab down to near Velvet's place where the short woman led them through a series of shortcuts between various buildings. Before they knew it, Nora was knocking on a door.

"You came," Velvet said happily when she opened the door.

"We said we'd be here," Pyrrha said.

"You did, I've just been incredibly busy," Velvet motioned for them to come in. The building was exactly as it had been the last time they'd been there.

"So, what did you find out?" Jaune asked, as they took the seats Velvet offered them.

"Well," Velvet paused to think. "To start, over the last few weeks there's been a number of fires set in areas of the city with heavy faunus populations. Houses, stores, and public areas, all burned. The first fire showed clear signs of being arson, but the police didn't think anything beyond that, it's not exactly a new crime. However, after the number of fires continued to grow, they all showed the exact same method of setting the fire, so they began to look further into it. Well, what they found was that the method is the same as the modus operandi of an infamous arsonist known as Feu."

"I've heard of him," Jaune said, furrowing his eyebrows. "My parents told me about him when I was young. He set fires for over decade, but they eventually just… stopped one day."

Velvet nodded, "The case quickly went cold, uh, no pun intended."

"It's alright, it's better than most of Yang's anyway," Nora said cheerily.

"Uh… okay," Velvet paused for a moment, before continuing, "anyway, the case went cold and was never solved, for a lot of people they were fine with it because it meant that the bad memories were put behind them."

"That makes sense," Ren said, "police can only look actively for so long before they need to move on to more recent cases." Velvet nodded. "So, we're dealing with the return of a famous arsonist that went against faunus, I'm guessing this is related to Rosa," Ren hypothesized.

Velvet nodded. "Well, we don't know if it's Feu or a copycat, but looking through the old records did reveal a few things. Such as that when Rosa would have been an infant, around one I think, there were three houses that were burned, one completely. The one house that was burned completely belonged to a couple of cat faunus with the surname of Demure, and they had a one year old daughter. The infant's name was redacted from all public publishing of the reports on the request of the family, but old hospital records that were subpoenaed later show that one Rosa Demure did spend a long time in the hospital afterwards."

"That actually explains a lot, I'm not sure how Oobleck will take the info though," Pyrrha said, looking into the distance.

"Oobleck told us that Rosa had a throat injury from when she was a child that would occasionally inhibit her ability to speak," Jaune explained before Velvet could ask, "but she never told him how it happened."

"Although she probably told Mizu," Nora said, giggling. "Probably right after making out."

"Nora, this isn't really the time for that," Ren said. Nora made a small pouting face for a moment before nodding. "So, when was the last of these recent fires?"

"Yesterday," Velvet said. "It was actually just a few streets over from where Rosa grew up, and where her mother still lives."

"Do you think she knows?" Jaune asked.

"Do you mean about the fires or the woman?" Velvet asked. "Actually, it doesn't matter. She's pretty much a shut in anymore. The only ones she lets in are Huntsmen, her old friends, at least those that are still alive, and her son, and he's been away for a long time."

"Why?" Pyrrha asked.

"Work," a familiar voice came from behind them. All four members of Team JNPR turned to look behind them, and their eyes fell upon the fashionable leader of Team CFVY, Coco. "He's been in Mistral for a long time for business. Velv, I didn't know you were having other guests today."

"I didn't either, you didn't exactly give me warning you were coming over," Velvet said. "You just showed up half an hour ago, told me where to meet up with Yatsuhashi and Fox tomorrow, heard some of what I had to say, then walked into the back room."

"I would say give me an introduction, but I see that's not needed, how've you four been doing?" Coco walked over to stand next to Velvet.

"We've been doing alright," Nora said cheerfully. "How've you been, Velvet told us you were in Vacuo last month."

"We were, extended assignment," Coco said coolly as she moved around to lean against the wall. "There were just so many Grimm that thought they had a chance at making it through Vacuo's walls. Poor things thought they had a chance."

"So, all work?" Pyrrha asked, raising her eyebrows. "That doesn't sound like you."

"Well, not quite _all_ work, I did have enough time to get a nice new tan, but then again that's not really saying all that much," Coco said. "Velv said you four've been up to some interesting things over the last month, care to share?"

Jaune let out a short, nervous laugh, "Where to begin…"

* * *

"This place is still decently warm," Ruby said, stretching a bit as the four of them were preparing for the night inside the church after having found it empty. "Well, at least it's less cold than outside," she paused for a moment. "Aww, who am I kidding, it's just as cold here as it is outside."

"It's common practice in small towns to make the local places of worship also be a usable place to hold up should something happen to the town," Blake said, looking around. The church was mostly barren, the former residents more than likely having taken the most important things with them when they had left. However, wooden pews were scattered all over the room in various states of rot. "It would make sense they'd try and make it as comfortable as they could. That said, it has been more than half a century, you really can't be surprised it's no longer holding any lingering heat."

"You're right, I'm not," Ruby admitted. "I'm just a little disappointed."

"Regardless, we should try and warm it up," Weiss said. "We should probably head out and collect some wood that hasn't already burned. Preferably right now too before it gets dark or too much more of it burns."

"I'll do it," Yang volunteered. "I'll be able to carry the most."

"I'll go with you," Ruby said, "I'll be able to cut it up easier than you." Yang nodded and the sisters set off towards the entrance.

"So, how are things going with Yang?" Weiss muttered, looking over at Blake as they set about clearing off a part of the floor to sleep.

"Things have returned to normal between us," Blake paused for a second, "but we haven't talked about it since."

"So, not quite normal yet," Weiss said, picking up some old beams.

"No, I guess not," Blake admitted, setting down beams she'd been carrying.

"What!?" Ruby's surprised voice called out from outside the church. Weiss and Blake looked at each other before quickly hurrying out after them. Outside the doorway, they found Ruby and Yang frozen in shock, and the reason wasn't hard to see. They weren't outside in the middle of the town, they were standing in a large auditorium filled to the brim with people staring at a speaker on stage, almost all of whom were faunus. "What's going on?"

"This is an old White Fang meeting," Blake said, a mixture of emotions going through her voice as she saw the old flag hanging on the back wall behind the stage.

"But where are we? How are we here?" Yang asked, shock and disbelief evident in her voice. "This clearly isn't any place in the mining town."

"I don't know," Blake said, beginning to push her way through the crowd. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang following behind her. Reaching the front of the crowd, the got a clear view of the man speaking to the crowd, recognition flowing through them as they began listening to his voice. It was the White Fang Lieutenant that had beaten Weiss on the train from Mountain Glenn, and the one that had… Blake averted her gaze, gripping her scarred arm.

"...and today, I have incredible news," the man said to the crowd, oblivious to the group watching him. "We have a supporter that none of us could have expected to visit us here today! Everyone, I am honored to introduce one of the wealthiest people from Atlas, and the heiress to a corporation that has always practiced equality despite its peers, Miss Ao Mizu."

"What!?" All four members of Team RWBY froze in shock as two people walked out of the crowd, the leading figure was, without a doubt, Ao Mizu. She walked up to the microphone that the man had left behind after introducing her.

"Um, hello," Mizu said nervously. "I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting to be here tonight, but now that I am here, I'm honored that I've been given the opportunity to speak to you like this. I, uh, I don't have anything like a speech prepared, nor do I have anything planned out at all. But," she took a deep breath, "I can see that some of you aren't happy to see me. I can understand that. To you I'm probably just another rich person from Atlas, I'd be surprised if none of you were already assuming that my family is exactly the same as the Schnees." Weiss flinched.

"I couldn't blame you if you did," Mizu continued, "after all, Eis Schnee's view is far more well publicized than my father's. However, the Ao family, my family, has always treated its faunus workers just as well as its human workers, and on a more personal note," Mizu took another deep breath, "for the last four years," she motioned over at the other person who had taken the stage with her, "Rosa here has been my partner at Beacon."

"So this is near to or after they graduated," Ruby said, her eyes widening, "but that means it's close to- Is this Mountain Glenn?" The others didn't say anything for a moment before their eyes widened as well, flashing back to what Team JNPR had told them after their mission with Oobleck.

"However, Rosa has been more than just my partner and a friend during that time," Mizu's face turned a shade of pink similar to Rosa's hair, "and now there's something that I've wanted to do for a long time now." She walked over to Rosa and dragged her over to the microphone with her.

"Mizu, what are you doing?" Rosa asked in surprise.

"Rosa," Mizu took another deep breath, "I love you."

"I love you too, you know that. So, what's this about?" Rosa asked, as Mizu's face shifted from pink to red.

"Just like I never thought I'd be here a few hours ago, four years ago I'd never have thought I'd do this," an immense smile appeared on Mizu's face. Rosa's face lit up as well, having seemingly figured out what Mizu was doing. "Rosa Demure... will you marry me?" As soon as the words escaped her mouth, the scene around Team RWBY changed, they were standing in the same area, but they were completely alone, and the room was run down.

"Jaune never mentioned that…" Ruby said, breaking the silence that had fallen after several minutes.

"Something tells me he didn't know," Yang said, in just as much shock as the others.

They remained silent for nearly another minute before Blake shook her head, "What is going on here? Please tell me this is just some strange dream."

"I think we should get out of this room," Ruby said, looking back at the entrance. The others nodded and set off, however Weiss remained rooted in place staring at the stage. "Weiss?" The heiress jumped and followed the rest of them out. Whatever kind of solace they were expecting out of the room, they didn't receive. Walking out of the entrance to the room, they found themselves in a church, but it was not the church they'd been in earlier. They were standing in a large, long building, far larger than the small church the town had, and the room was in the middle of what appeared to be a wedding ceremony, but it clearly wasn't Rosa and Mizu's. A blonde haired man was standing at the front of the room smiling broadly at the woman across from him. Both of them appeared to be in their mid twenties, however the woman's hair was a staggering silver color, as was the fox tail hanging from the back of her dress and extending to just above her ankles. "Isn't that-"

"Beige," Weiss said, both interrupting and answering her.

"Do you, Serebro, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the preacher administering the wedding asked, the ceremony being close to its conclusion. The woman, Serebro, turned to the preacher and whispered a few things back and forth with him, the preacher nodded, "Do you, Silver, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," Silver answered, as she smiled broadly looking back at Beige.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." Beige and Silver immediately kissed each other, and the the gathered group of people in the church began cheering. However, before anything else happened, the scene changed to the same church, but completely empty, and deathly quiet. It was still well maintained, unlike the previous room. Behind the group, the sound of Ember Celica deploying reached them, quickly followed by a loud smacking sound. The others turned around to look at Yang rubbing her cheek.

"Did you just punch yourself?" Weiss asked, incredulous.

"I nearly shot myself too," Yang said, continuing to rub. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

"There are less painful ways of doing that," Blake said, shaking her head. Yang nodded, still rubbing her cheek.

"Should we take the door back out again?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know if it will help, but let's try it," Weiss said, leading them out of the room. They found themselves in a familiar surrounding, but it wasn't the original church. "We're at Beacon," Weiss said, recognizing the room.

"These are the team planning rooms," Ruby said, recognizing it as well from the numerous times they'd been there. These were rooms where various teams could come and discuss things officially, either with a teacher or just in the presence of one for guidance. However, there wasn't a team in the room, instead there was only one person, more than likely a teacher. However it wasn't one they recognized. He was tall and had light brown hair, and sticking out of the hair were a pair of antlers. He was writing on the board in the back of the room for a few minutes before the door opened behind Team RWBY.

"Ah, yes, Team STRQ," the teacher said, turning around. His words reaching the women's ears before they'd had the opportunity to turn around fully.

"Stark?" Ruby and Yang looked at each other before spinning around entirely, as quickly as possible. Entering the room was a younger version of their uncle Qrow, behind him came their father, Taiyang, followed closely by a duo of Summer Rose and Raven Branwen. The two of them were stunned, but not to the extent of Weiss and Blake, both of whom looked back between their teammates and the two women from the flashback. The resemblances were ridiculously close between Raven and Yang. They looked as though they could have been twins, even their hair grew the same way. The only differences were their eye colors, Raven's was red instead of lilac, and their hair colors due to Raven's being black as opposed to Yang's blonde, their teammate having clearly inherited both those features from her and Ruby's father. And even then, Raven's eyes were the exact same shade of red that Yang's changed to when angry or using her Semblance.

Ruby and Summer however, looked like they were identical twins. The only difference between them appearance wise being their outfits, with Summer's cloak being a solid white as opposed to Ruby's red. What she wore underneath the cloak, they couldn't tell, however. Summer was wearing her cloak more properly and had it covering her body with the hood up as opposed to her daughter's use of her own as little more than a cape in most situations.

"How was your last mission?" the teacher asked.

"It went alright," Summer said. Her voice had an innate kindness and warmth to it.

"Yes, everything seems to show that," the teacher said, looking at his scroll. "You were sent to a small town to the west of the Kingdom that was having troubles with Grimm attacks. There were only a few injuries and the town's walls were otherwise untouched. Overall these reports are normal from an attack like this."

"Yet you sound like there's more to it than what you're letting on," Raven said. Her voice was similar to what it had been in all of Yang's dreams, but it sounded more natural as it was lacking the almost ethereal edge to it that it possessed in said dreams.

"Yes, well," the teacher looked over his four students. "While no one died, some of the injuries were rather brutal. It was your first time out in the field for something like this, I wanted to make sure you're all okay."

"We're all fine," Raven said, sounding a little defensive. Her teammates all looked at her, clearly concerned.

"A lot of people say that," the teacher said, "and some of them are right, others aren't. From what the reports say, you were the one who saw most of it, Raven."

"Professor Donn, I am being trained in combat medicine," Raven began protesting.

Raven stopped when Summer put a hand on her arm. "You know that's not what he meant," Summer said kindly.

"Raven, I know you want to be brave, but it's alright to look for help when you need it. Otherwise, you won't be able to help anyone yourself," Professor Donn said. Raven didn't say anything, but looked from Summer over to her brother. Qrow just nodded to her, as did Taiyang. Raven looked forward and slowly nodded her head towards the professor. "Alright, if you need to talk with anyone, I'll be in my office, or if you'd prefer someone else, Professor Port has done plenty to help other students as well." Raven nodded again, and the room changed to its more current design, and like the other areas, was empty. Neither Ruby nor Yang said anything, both of them just stood there in silence.

"I think we should go," Weiss said. Blake and Ruby nodded, but Yang just kept staring at where her mother had been sitting.

"Yang, come on," Blake grabbed Yang's right arm. The blonde woman jumped a bit, but nodded, while Blake's grip loosened a moment after feeling the metal under the glove before gripping tighter. When the four of them walked out of the room, they found themselves standing back in the abandoned church. However, they weren't alone anymore, across from them, at the altar, was the woman dressed in black.

"You did that didn't you!?" Yang yelled out as the team immediately went for their weapons. The woman didn't say anything, instead she just raised her arms. A large, green fire appeared directly in front of the team.

"Green!?" Ruby yelled in surprise as Yang lost all control and charged straight through the odd colored flames.

"Yang, don't!" Blake called out after her as bright orange flames appeared to either side of the remaining three at the doorway, and deep red flames blocked the doorway itself. As Yang got close to the woman, a series of black flames appeared to her sides, lighting the room. Before Yang could hit the woman, she turned around, and grabbed Yang. She spun around again, leading Yang along the way, until they were facing back towards the entrance, where the woman sent Yang flying with a burst of wind. Yang flew across half the room, and began skidding across the ground until she was stopped by one of Weiss's glyphs before she could knock the group backwards into the fire in the doorway.

The woman then began walking towards the team, and when she did, all the fires turned a dark blue. However, that wasn't the only thing that changed. As the woman walked closer, the markings on her mask changed, not in shape or design, but in color. The markings changed to a brown coloration, and were glowing as the woman's had when she made use of her Aura. That wasn't the last change however. As she walked, her body became taller and leaner, her limbs more muscular, and her chest flatter. By the time the person in black reached the team, it was obvious it was a man.


	10. The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

**A/N1: Well, here we go ladies and gentlemen, the last chapter of Masked Sorrow's second part. Yes, there's one more chapter of my original plan still to come, but it's fairly obvious that it's going to be a flashback chapter, and I don't count them as a part of the parts and arcs of the main story.**

**A/N2-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. If you've already read a chapter with this message on it, then go on, if not, for the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

Winter walked into the entrance of the military headquarters off of Vetro Plaza. "Do you have an appointment?" the secretary asked, not looking up from his desk, either out of boredom or tiredness, both more than possible due to the late time of the day, it was nearly night.

"General Ironwood requested to see me," Winter said, unsure of what was going on. "Winter Schnee," she added after a moment.

"Oh, Miss Schnee, of course," the secretary quickly jumped to attention, first at the mention of Ironwood, and a second time at the mention of Winter's name, "the General is waiting for you in his office, top floor, I'll verify the floor request in the elevator." Winter nodded and walked into said elevator directly to the right of the desk. Upon pressing the button for the top floor, the elevator waited for a moment before a confirmation chime played. The elevator's doors then closed and the elevator shot upwards without stopping at any other floor. When the doors opened, Winter was staring down at a hall filled with various offices. Winter stepped out of the elevator and walked down towards Ironwood's office, having been down the hallway before.

When she reached Ironwood's office, she knocked on the door. "Come in," Ironwood said. Stepping inside, Winter saw another man that had been at the SDC event. "Ah, Miss Schnee, welcome," Ironwood said professionally, stepping from around his desk.

"Hello General Ironwood," Winter greeted as well, shaking his hand.

"I don't know if you've met, this is Albero Polendina," Ironwood said, indicating the man.

"We haven't," Winter said, shaking his hand as well. "You were at the event."

"There's a reason for that," Ironwood said, "Albero here created Penny, and you will be working under him after you come to work for us."

"Oh, truly?" Winter asked, looking at the man. He had a friendly expression on his face, his hair was short and greying, and his blue eyes were striking.

"Truly," Albero confirmed. "Now, for the reason why you were called here. How would you like a tour of our research facility?"

"It would be much appreciated," Winter said, making sure to keep her tone professional. Albero nodded, and walked out of the room, leaving Ironwood and Winter behind. With a dismissive motion from Ironwood, Winter exited after him and followed him down the hallway back towards the elevators. Once in the elevator, Albero swiped an ID card next to the buttons, which turned orange for a moment before Albero pushed one, which was lit blue instead.

"Half the floors in this building aren't labelled on the buttons," Albero said. "You need to swipe an ID to access them. Although, you can only get to your own floor without further permission." Winter nodded as the elevator sped through. "Only people with full access are the Generals, Admirals, and certain government employees."

As the two of them stepped out of the elevator, they walked down a hallway, Winter looking to either side to see large laboratories filled with workers. However, one thing more than the others made her stop and stare. "Why do you have a firing range?" There were no less than four soldiers, three men and one woman firing rifles on the other side of a thick layer of, more than likely bulletproof, glass.

"We didn't until a few years back, but we felt it was necessary," Albero said, continuing on.

"Why would it be necessary? Aren't there other ranges nearby?" Winter asked, following him along.

"Yes, but they don't have the equipment necessary for what we do."

"And just what is it you do?" Winter asked.

"You saw Penny, what would you think we do?" Albero asked, sounding entertained.

"I'd say robotics," Winter said, seeing several droids in various states of assembly standing in another lab.

Albero nodded, "We've been focused on robotics for the last twenty years, and maintain an edge out on the private sector, although how much of an edge can vary wildly."

"What kind of edge?" Winter asked, seeing several glowing cords being inserted into a robot skeleton, recognizing it as a dust conduit.

"Depending on the technology, we try to maintain a five to ten year advancement," Albero answered as he entered a large room. "Meaning we wait that long until we reveal our advancements to the public, or, more often, hand them to another company, generally the SDC, and they announce it as their own new development."

"Wait, you actually do that?" Winter asked in shock. "I thought that was just some crazy conspiracy theory."

Albero laughed, "No, it's true, although the talk that we suppress outside advancement _is_ just a crazy conspiracy theory. No, what lets us keep the edge is having breakthroughs being kept private, there's nothing stopping the private sector from making the same discoveries, or even superior ones, something that's happened more than once. If it wasn't for the SDC's own private advances on what various Dust mixtures can do under the right conditions, Penny wouldn't be here. In addition, none of our weapons are made in house."

"So, you keep your own advances secret, but don't suppress others' research?" Winter asked, wanting to make sure she had everything straight.

"No," a woman in a labcoat walked around to greet the two of them, "the council ruled that illegal more than half a century ago, and there's the fact that even if we could, the other kingdoms have their own researchers. It would honestly hold advancements back if something like that was in place. So, Winter Schnee, what brings you to a military R&amp;D facility?"

"Future employee," Albero said. "She'll begin here in around two months."

"Nice," the woman nodded, turning towards Albero, "so, boss, you here to get your arm checked?"

"No, Prasi, all I need is some minor calibrations, I can do that on my own," Albero said.

"If you say so," the woman said, turning back to Winter. "Dasos Prasinos, I know, it's a mouthful."

"Winter Schnee, although you already knew that," Winter said, extending her hand towards the older woman.

"I look forward to seeing what you can bring to us here," Prasinos said, turning back to Albero. "If you need me, I'll be in the firing range." Albero nodded as she left the room.

"What was that about your arm?" Winter asked, turning back to Albero, who laughed, and motioned for her to follow him into the next room. Said room was filled with machines looking into yet another room that had only a flat sheet of metal with scanners looking over it.

"This is where Penny is looked after, and examined when needed," Albero said as he walked over to a machine lying against the wall.

"And that machine?" Winter asked. Albero didn't say anything, flipping a few switches on the machine that was already running.

"This thing takes a while to turn on fully, so I activated it before heading up to meet Ironwood." Albero said, before rolling up his to his right arm sleeve, revealing it to be fully robotic.

"Wait, you, what? But I shook," Winter stopped and sighed, "more advancements you've kept secret?"

Albero removed his glove, and pointed at Winter while smiling broadly. "Correct!" he said happily, moving his hand and fingers even more to show it's full dexterity.

"I've seen people with cybernetic arms before, I recently moved in with one," Winter said, staring at his arm.

"I'm guessing you're referring to Yang Xiao Long," Albero said as he inserted his arm into the machine.

"Yes, I was," Winter said in surprise.

Albero nodded, "Robotics, biomechatronics, cybernetics, we work on it all. General Ironwood had us build the arm custom for her after she lost it in a bad fight against the White Fang's old leader after she was disqualified from Vale's last Vytal Festival. Our head of Dust, Lehti, your future boss," he nodded at her, "went with him when he had it installed on her. He wanted to make sure the Dust cords they were using worked properly since at the time they were still being tested. The last round of testing, but still tested nonetheless."

"That would explain why her arm's more advanced than what I normally see," Winter said, her eyes widening more as she saw his arm move.

He flexed his arm a bit more, "And my arm is actually even more advanced than hers, and is constantly being updated. Tell me, what's the most common way of powering a replacement limb or body part?"

"The implantee's body, full limbs generally require a high calorie diet to maintain," Winter said, that much was common knowledge. "But having an internal Dust battery set off by the user's Aura that needs replacement from time to time isn't unheard of to help take some of the strain off, and Yang's takes energy given off from her Aura itself and converts it."

Albero nodded, "That's exactly why the General wanted Lehti there when she got her arm. The Dust conduits that take the heat Yang produces to power the arm were exactly what were being tested. Combining it with the standard powering method, it affords her a more maneuverable arm than most without needing to keep replacing power sources."

"But hers is only half her arm, yours is just as maneuverable while being the entire limb," Winter pointed out.

"Yes, and the power requirements are incredibly high," Albero said, pulling his arms out of the machine. He moved the fingers on his robotic arm. Now that she was paying close attention, she clearly saw that the movements were somewhat clunkier than organic arms, but far more fluid than most artificial digits. "The private sector can make arms like this too, have been for years, but they can't run them easily," Albero put his arms back into the machine, "I can only run this arm because my Semblance generates electricity, just like how Yang's requires conduits to take in and convert her heat generation. Anyone else would have to have full on feasts for every meal to run just Yang's. That's where we're not all that far ahead, our limbs are more energy efficient than the private sector's, but just barely, which means the high dexterity ones like mine and Yang's are special cases."

"I'm guessing this isn't an issue for building dexterous robots," Winter said, her eyes falling on a display on the machine that showed his arms inside it. Everytime he moved his organic left hand and arm, the machine would cause the robotic arm to replicate it exactly.

"You'd be right there," Albero removed his arms from the machine again, and moved his robotic arm again, the movements were exactly as fluid and natural looking as his other arm.

Winter nodded, as Albero walked over to the chair resting in the middle of the room where a labcoat was resting. "So, may I ask-"

"How I lost my arm?" Albero asked, looking up at her as he put the coat on.

Winter nodded. "I know, it's insensitive," she averted her gaze.

"Going up to a random person on the street, yes it would be, but here, not so much. Nearly half of what we do here is based on replacing limbs. After all, not everyone who wants to serve can, and some who did, cannot continue to. We're far from having only androids and mechs taking to combat, and unsurprisingly cybernetics and traditional robotics are very related. Not to mention the benefits for disabled people in the general public down the road."

"So, the soldiers earlier…"

"Testing out new limbs. Two have new hands, one has a entire new arm, and one has a leg. They're testing out how new system types respond to recoil, well the forces associated with recoil, we are a military facility after all," Albero said, walking out, Winter right behind him. "New droids test in there as well, so, shall we see even more? I haven't even shown you what we're doing with Dust, that is where you'll be starting after all."

Winter nodded. _Maybe I'll be fine working here after all. _"So, are you as advanced with Dust as you are otherwise?"

"No, when it comes to Dust, the SDC is still the one who makes most of the discoveries. We have a lot more success when it comes to applying the Dust mixtures in various ways however." Winter nodded. "We're also not advanced when it comes to actual weapons development. Every time we think we've figured something out, Heraclean Arms in Vacuo have already perfected it. Before them, it was Ao Weapons, so not much has changed honestly. Just which Kingdom they're coming out of, but weapons also aren't this specific department, so I'm not really bothered by it, just the Dust. Plus, this department's studies in Aura, Robotics, and Cybernetics are unmatched."

* * *

"This is where we saw her right?" Jaune asked as Team JNPR were standing atop a house overlooking the Demure Residence, the sun having set a while ago. Ren nodded. "I can see why she'd stand here. Perfect vantage point over the nearby areas. The only streets in and out are in plain sight. Hopefully we can see this before it gets dark some other time, although it was nice seeing the rest of Velvet's team."

Pyrrha nodded, Coco had cut off their story and called Yatsuhashi and Fox to Velvet's place to hear everything as well. "Plus, the Demure house is backed against the walls of other buildings, there is no other way to get to it than from those streets," she added. "The only way someone could get to it would either be in plain view, or would have to go through someone else's place first."

"What's this?" Nora asked, stooping down for a moment. "This looks like Dust." She was holding a vial filled with powdered dust. However, it wasn't evenly mixed, the various types of Dust formed large stripes of various colors.

"Whoever left it wasn't very well versed in how to mix it," Jaune said, looking at it.

"Or extremely well versed in it," Pyrrha said. "I remember Weiss saying at least once that there are some uses for not fully mixing the various types, but the mixture has to be perfect or it might have unpredictable outcomes."

"So, either we've got a bad mixture, or an incredibly advanced one, great," Jaune said. "If it's our woman who left it, I'm guessing the latter."

"Eep!" Nora dropped the vial, and it was clear why. Darkness seemed to be surrounding it, at least that's the best way Jaune could describe it as the light hitting the vial was disappearing as it came close to it. The darkness spread outward from the vial as the four members of Team JNPR stepped away from it. The darkness expanded until it was nearly large enough to hide a person, and sure enough, as it began to dissipate, the first thing Jaune noticed was the white of a mask marked with blue. Even before the darkness had cleared from around her, the woman had assumed a guarded stance. "I think we found what it does," Nora said, already reaching for Magnhild.

"I guess that makes our search easy," Ren said, already having deployed StormFlower from his sleeves. The woman said nothing, instead looking between Jaune and Pyrrha, both of whom were raising their shields and readying their blades. She turned a bit to see Nora holding Magnhild in its launcher form as Ren shifted his stance on the woman's other side. In the blink of an eye, Nora and Ren were blown of the roof by blasts of wind, a brief glow coming from the blue markings on her mask. By the time Jaune and Pyrrha had reacted and struck out at her, the woman had already jumped backwards away from them. As she landed, both her gloves and mask glowed and blades appeared over each of her arms.

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at each other for a moment and Jaune held his shield in front of him with his sword at his side as he edged closer, Pyrrha assumed a ready stance behind him. As the pair moved closer, the woman edged back a bit before striking out. Jaune blocked the first strike with his shield, and parried the second strike from the woman's left hand. Jaune ducked a bit as Pyrrha launched herself around him to strike out from Jaune's more open right side. The woman seemed to fly away from them, Jaune only registering the wind that had blown against him after it had stopped as the woman resumed her battle stance. Pyrrha launched the next attack, striking out with her sword, Milo. The woman expertly parried the blow and struck out with her right arm. Pyrrha countered by blocking with Akouo and transitioning Milo into its javelin form while firing a shot away from the woman to launch the blade at her. The woman moved to get out of the way, but found herself being struck by the face of Jaune's shield.

The woman staggered back for a bit before jumping off the roof as Nora came crashing down, Magnhild creating a near deafening boom as it struck the roof. The moment the woman landed on the ground, she was assaulted by a hail of gunfire, only blocking it by creating a shield of stone in front of her. Ren launched himself at the woman and struck out with the blades on the ends of his twin pistols. His attacks were swift, and the woman backed away as she avoided them before, finally, one of the blades found itself embedded in a thick layer of stone. Ren yanked the blade out of the stone as he moved away, a pink explosion illuminatng the area as Nora made herself known in the loudest way possible for the second time in a row, her excited giggles nearly lost in the aftermath as she fired two more shots. Unfortunately, the woman was relatively safe as Nora had to take care not to cause undue damage to the surrounding buildings.

Fortunately, the blasts proved to be an effective suppression tool allowing Ren to step in and attack again from a distance while the woman's methods of escape were limited. Pyrrha also took advantage of the situation to descend onto the woman, blade first while Jaune awkwardly made his way down opposite Ren but out of the way of his gunfire. The woman grabbed Milo by the blade, a thin layer of stone protecting her hand, and pushed Pyrrha away. Pyrrha, however, touched the woman's arm, and tried exerting her semblance over any metal, but failed before she was forced to break contact by a powerful gust of wind. Before she could change target towards Milo to draw it back to her, her head struck the wall of another building. Pyrrha's Aura prevented her from being hurt too badly, but it didn't stop her from being knocked out. The woman, now holding Milo, sent a powerful blast of wind downwards to boost her jump upwards at Nora while Jaune ran to his partner's side.

As the woman approached Nora, she found herself face to face with a swinging hammer. The woman, however, was too far away and landed on the roof just out of Nora's reach. Nora took a step forward, swinging again. Seeing the blow coming, the woman planted Milo into the ground as she moved out of the way just quickly enough for Magnhild to rustle her black clothing. Nora's swing however did hit what was still in the woman's place, and a loud shattering sound came as Milo crumpled from the ferocious blow, as, without an Aura being channeled through it to reinforce it, the weapon was rife with weak points. As Nora froze for a moment in shock as Pyrrha's weapon fell to the ground in pieces, the woman grabbed her by the wrist, causing Nora to grunt as her arm flash froze. The woman then took advantage of this to disarm Nora, and kicked her off the roof towards Ren. Ren, who hadn't been firing for risk of hitting Nora, quickly tried catching her, the both of them falling to the ground as Nora's momentum was too much for Ren to withstand.

All three conscious members of Team JNPR could only stare as the woman quickly ran her hands over the hammer for a moment, before, in a few quick motions, she disassembled it. "First Pyrrha, now Nora," Jaune said, stomping his foot in frustration as Pyrrha stirred next to him. Before Jaune or Ren could make another move, however, a bright flash of lightning struck down onto the woman without warning, the boom of thunder filling the area.

A large man moved in next to Jaune and Pyrrha from the road. "Leave," he said.

"You heard Yatsuhashi," Coco said, strolling into the alleyway as well, her minigun already deployed and aiming up at the woman. "We can handle this." Jaune nodded, storing Crocea Mors as he picked up Pyrrha. Nora and Ren made their way over to them.

"Destroy her for me," Nora said in an angry tone Jaune had never heard from her before. When he turned to her, he saw that she was holding the head of Magnhild close to her as a mother might hold an injured child.

"Will do," Coco said, beginning to fire. The volley of gunfire from the minigun was a sight to behold and most adversaries would have died many times over in the first few seconds of fire. The woman, however, had already moved backwards away from the barrage.

"Go," Yatsuhashi said, readying his own weapon. Team JNPR moved out of what they only now realized was the small alley they'd discovered the oil symbol in, they saw Velvet standing on another rooftop, a large yellow Dust crystal in her right hand, her box at her left hip. Looking up, they saw the dull flashes within the clouds above as Velvet used the Dust to gradually generate another bolt of lightning. Their last view of the top of the masked woman on the top of the roof was her jumping to the side as Fox struck out at her from the side.

"What's going on back there?" several people asked, their faces drained of color.

"Oh," Jaune said, only now realizing just how loud some of Nora's attacks had been, "I wish I knew."

"I guess it's a good thing we waited for the rest of Team CFVY to show up earlier," Pyrrha said, rubbing the back of her head.

* * *

"Who are you?" Weiss asked in shock as the man paused in front of them. The man said nothing, instead raising his right arm in front of Team RWBY. A brown glow enveloped his arm, and when it disappeared, a red, glowing blade was left behind extending over his hand, the same size and shape as the woman's. His mask, however, never stopped glowing.

"Another quiet one, huh?" Yang said, standing back up, entering a more cautious stance. The man cocked his head before jumping backwards as the fires dissipated. The four members of Team RWBY readied their weapons as they approached him, spreading out a bit. The man held his blade covered arm out at them for a few moments before visibly relaxing as he raised his left hand above him as his right fell to his side, the blade disappearing. A large beam of light shot out of the man's hand, blasting away at the ceiling. Large chucks of rock fell onto the four women, who dodged out of the way. Blake and Yang to one side, and Ruby and Weiss to the other.

The man then raised both hands, and an incredible amount of white light enveloped them, blinding all four young women. When the light faded, they were no longer in the church. They were also no longer together. "Yang!?" Ruby called out. "Blake!?" Weiss picked herself back up and looked around. They were standing in an immense white hallway. The flooring was slightly reflective and appeared similar to marble. However, the most distinctive trait of the long hallway, was its lack of distinctive traits. The walls and floor were perfectly smooth, giving it an unnatural and alien vibe.

"What is this?" Weiss asked, looking around. She heard her boots clack against the ground as she did.

"How is this possible?" Ruby asked, stomping her feet on the ground, the sound echoing around them.

"I don't know," Weiss said, resting her hand against the wall. It was cold and hard. "I've never heard of a Dust mixture that could forceably transport other people. Not like this."

* * *

Yang punched the wall as hard as she could. "Stupid!" she punched with her other fist, "White!" she continued assaulting the wall with each word, "Bull!" Her last punch caused a loud echoing sound through the hall, which drowned out her last word. The wall remained intact without showing a single shred of damage.

"If you keep it up, maybe you'll be able to hurt its feelings," Blake said, looking around. The smooth designs of the walls, floor, and ceiling were unnerving her. "Come on, we should get going again."

Yang gave the wall one final punch before grunting in acknowledgement. "You said you heard Ruby's voice a few minutes ago, where'd it come from."

"I think it came from down there," Blake said, pointing to Yang's right, "I think. It sounded odd." Yang nodded and the two of them set off. "This seems almost unnatural," Blake added after a few minutes of silence.

"What, the fact that we got sent here, or the fact that everything is perfectly flat?" Yang asked, clearly on edge still.

"Both," Blake admitted. Yang just shook her head before walking forward a bit and leaning against the wall. Before either woman could say anything, the wall opened up across from where Yang was leaning, revealing another long hallway, but that wasn't all, several Beowolves walked out of the doorway and promptly attacked the pair. In a matter of seconds, the three Grimm were slowly disintegrating on the ground.

"And it's boobytrapped, this day just keeps getting better and better," Yang said gritting her teeth.

"Yang, calm down," Blake said, storing Gambol Shroud, not having been able to use it before Yang had shot all three Grimm to death, "we're not going to get anything done if we're just angry."

"I know, I know," Yang took several deep breaths, "you're right." After relaxing a bit, while not to the point of being fully calm, she was able to think more clearly. "So, uh," she looked down the hall both ways, "which way did we come from?"

"I…" Blake looked back and forth as well. There was nothing on the walls that provided any form of reference point, instead she looked down at the three dead Grimm, their bodies were quickly disintegrating, but there was still enough to tell which part was what of their bodies. Looking at where they were facing and how they'd come out of the wall, Blake turned to her left and pointed. "We were going that way, I think."

* * *

"Weiss," Ruby said, "which way did we come from?" The duo had found themselves at an intersection with five choices to pick from, after looking between their options, and finding them all to be perfectly identical, they'd returned to the center of the room.

"Don't be silly we came from… from…" Weiss stomped her foot, the sound echoing down the hall as she realized they'd both lost track of which hallway was the one they'd exited. "We should probably mark which way we're coming from."

"Yeah, well," Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose, "let's try that." She slammed the ground with the tip of the scythe. The blade bounced off the solid surface as a loud echoing sound filled the area. "Yeah, we're going to have to leave something behind if you want to try that."

Weiss spun the chamber in Myrtenaster around before sighing. "I've still got Dust in all my vials, if only a bit, but," she ejected one of them, "I can do without the ice after earlier if we really need to mark a tunnel." Ruby nodded, sitting down in the center of the room. "What? Aren't we going to go?"

"We were walking for," Ruby pulled out her scroll and checked the time, "a half hour, and found nothing but this," she motioned around them, "and maybe five other turns before we got here." Ruby returned her scroll to her pocket and closed her eyes. "All we know is that we're outside of a kingdom because we don't have any connection on our scrolls, and that whatever this place is, it's massive." Weiss sighed and walked over to the redhead. Ruby's eyes shot open and she looked over at Weiss, "Could you take a few steps back?"

"What? Why?" Weiss asked.

"Something sounded off," Ruby said. Weiss was confused, but nodded, and walked back a bit. A confused expression crossed her face. "Come back again." Weiss walked back over towards Ruby, who shook her head, "I swear it sounded different before."

"What did it sound like?" Weiss asked, taking a seat next to Ruby.

Ruby took a deep breath, "I'm not sure, it surprised me." Weiss nodded. "I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Yeah, well you're not the only one," Weiss said. "Now, come on, let's get moving again." Ruby nodded, and jumped to her feet. The two of them looked around for a bit before shrugging and just setting off down a random hallway.

* * *

"How long have we even been in this place?" Yang asked, sitting down.

Blake shrugged and pulled out her scroll. "An hour, well a few minutes more, since it took a bit before either of us thought to check our scrolls."

"It feels more like five," Yang said banging her fist on the ground.

"Yeah, well boredom does that," Blake said, walking over to put her hand against a nearby wall outside of Yang's eyesight.

"Blake, walk around a bit again," Yang said. Blake froze in surprise but nodded, and walked back over towards Yang. Yang looked confused but sighed. "Never mind," Yang said, closing her eyes. Blake nodded and turned around to walk back over to the wall again. "No, I heard it again," Yang sat up, looking over at Blake. "It sounded like you were walking around through snow."

"That's not possible," Blake pointed out. Yang didn't say anything, instead she pulled out her scroll and aimed it randomly around her without looking at it for a few moments. When she looked at the scroll, Yang's face whitened and she looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "What is it?" Yang handed Blake her scroll. "Yang this is a picture of a snow covered forest, what's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong," Yang said, taking her scroll back, "is that I just took that picture now." Yang motioned around. "I've dealt with something like this before. Torchwick's small henchwoman Neo could do something like this, but nowhere to this scale. We never left the plateau, everything we've heard or felt is all in our minds, none of this is real, it's all an illusion."

* * *

On a cliff overlooking the plateau, the man stood alone. He was unable to see his own illusions, nor was he able capable of seeing the trails of light marking them. As the two groups of women made their way through the forest, he manipulated the illusions to allow for them to keep walking uninhibited unless necessary. However, he was not able to see everything, the plateau was simply too massive. For this reason, he kept his focus on the most important things, at least, the most important things to him. "The two of them are still heading north," a female voice said in the man's ear through his wireless headphone.

"Good," the man said, answering back. "Let's see if they can pass."

"Do you really think that this test of yours is a good idea? Antagonizing Team RWBY seems like a very bad idea."

"Antagonizing them isn't a problem," the man let out a short laugh, "anymore at least. They got antagonized the day Yang's leg was broken."

The female voice sighed, "True."

* * *

"How can this not be real?" Blake asked, finally able to think on the subject. "I felt the wall, I heard the echo of our shoes on the floor, I heard Ruby's voice echo earlier."

"It's all in our mind," Yang said, looking around. "Our minds are changing what we feel and hear to work with what we see. It's like that video Oobleck showed us once, about that effect that makes us hear different words than we should because what we're really hearing doesn't match up with we're seeing, but on a massive scale. Our brains will actually instinctively stop us from doing things that would break it. Like when I leaned against the wall earlier, there was probably a tree there that I was actually leaning against."

"How do you know all this?" Blake asked. "I don't remember Oobleck or anyone else telling us about illusions, and you aren't exactly the most studious of people."

"Like I said, that woman Neo could create illusions as well," Yang sat back down, too stressed to respond to Blake's last comment, as well as knowing it was true. "After it was figured out that Cinder had her get me disqualified from the Vytal Festival for breaking Mercury's leg, my uncle Qrow literally dragged Oobleck from his office to me and had him give me a private lesson on illusion Semblances, and a few ways to counter them or figure them out if you think you're dealing with them." Yang shrugged, "Apparently his team leader would make life difficult from time to time with her own illusions for fun."

"But... what about earlier. We didn't just hear what we'd thought we should, we heard people talk," Blake pointed out.

"The voices are probably what kept me from realizing sooner. So, either we're going crazy, we got transported through time, or, most likely, they have a way to synthesize voices," Yang shrugged. "I don't know. If I had to guess, our minds made up for anything that sounded off."

Blake didn't say anything for a moment before nodding. "So, how do we break out of this?" she asked as she began looking around.

Yang smiled, standing back up, "Do something your brain can't stop you from finishing. If I throw a punch, my brain will halt it when I appear to hit the wall, and it would make me feel it too. But if I run and jump through it," Yang didn't complete the sentence, instead running and jumping. Her body flew through the wall as if there was nothing there. Blake stared for a moment before doing the same.

"I thought illusions were supposed to break when you see something extremely wrong happen," Blake said, landing in the forest. It had long since gone dark.

Yang shrugged, "Maybe if you went to a bad magic show for kids or weak Dust illusions. Apparently illusion semblances create illusions that remain intact so long as the creator works to keep them that way. I think Oobleck called them, uh, 'Active' illusions."

"That seems like it could be devastatingly effective," Blake said, looking back at where they'd come. From the outside, the hallway seemed nonexistent, all that suggested it was there was a soft glow marking the illusion's boundaries. She could also see their tracks in the snow from where they'd come from. "I would think an illusion master could just trap anyone who stood against him in his illusions without worry."

"You mean like we are?" Yang asked. Blake nodded slowly. "To an extent, an illusionist can, but there are ways around it, probably the easiest being just closing your eyes," Yang began walking in the directing they'd come from, using their tracks as a reference point. "An illusion can't affect you if you have no reference for it to. That's how I heard you walking through snow, I didn't see you moving and I didn't know when you'd start for the times I didn't tell you to move."

Blake nodded as they found themselves in another hallway heading from left to right across their path, neither having paid much attention to the lights marking the illusion, instead focusing on where their tracks had gone. "So, close your eyes huh," Blake said, doing just that as she walked ahead. After feeling she'd moved enough to get out of the hallway, she opened them. Sure enough she found herself back in the forest. "This is even more unnerving than the hallway was."

"I know what you mean," Yang said. "So, an hour there, an hour back to town?"

"I'd think so," Blake agreed. "So, do you think Ruby and Weiss have figured this out yet?"

* * *

"How is this possible!?" Ruby yelled out, her voice echoing off the halls, or so her mind told her it was. "We've been moving for an _hour_ and the most interesting thing we've run into is a twelve point split and two Beowolves!"

"I don't know," Weiss shook her head, pressing her hand against the wall once again. Subconsciously, her mind prevented her from pushing her hand any further, and made her feel the wall that wasn't there.

* * *

"Hopefully, yes," Yang said, continuing onwards, before Blake took the lead, something Yang didn't bother trying to complain about. The trees around them were notably thinner, with most of them leafless and appearing dead. A thick layer of snow covered the area having been completely undisturbed for countless years.

* * *

"So, the girls are out on another mission already?" Taiyang asked, walking over to his couch, where Qrow was sitting.

"Yep, a three to four day excursion to Valak Mountain," Qrow said, eyeing his former brother in law. As he'd expected, Taiyang froze and looked over at Qrow. "Look, Tai, I know what you're-"

"Summer never came back from her mission to that mountain," Taiyang said, his voice turning cold. "Why would they be sent there?"

"Things're different," Qrow said, trying to calm him down.

"How? Please tell me, how are they different!?" Taiyang demanded.

"Tai, calm down, Summer went on a mission to take out a Grimm around the same size as the Grimm we helped cut up last month. That Grimm is long dead, instead there's just a number of relatively young Grimm. The entire team got sent, there's nothing they need to worry about."

Taiyang shook his head, sitting down, "That still doesn't explain why they got sent there."

"All things considered," Qrow said, relaxing a bit, "James probably doesn't know, or if he does, he probably had other things on his mind." Taiyang nodded, and Qrow's scroll beeped. "Looks like Ozpin wants to talk in private," Qrow said, checking his messages. "I'll be back in a bit," Taiyang nodded, and sat down as Qrow excused himself from the house.

Taiyang sat alone for several minutes before a knock came at his door. Standing up slowly, Taiyang grunted in exhaustion. He then walked over to the door and opened it up, "Oobleck?" he asked in surprise.

"Hello, Taiyang," Oobleck greeted, sounding even more tired than Taiyang did.

"It's not often you come to Patch," Taiyang moved out of the way to let him in.

Oobleck nodded, "I needed to get away from Beacon for a bit, and this seemed more pleasant than just getting a hotel in the city, plus Amber's out of town on her own mission right now." He then shook his head, "Somehow the last month has only gotten busier after classes got out."

Taiyang nodded, "For you especially I'd imagine. Qrow's kept me up to date on what's been going on."

"So you know all about our mysterious woman then," Oobleck sat down and pulled out his thermos.

"Hold off on drinking that," Taiyang said, walking over to grab a bottle. "And I have," he turned back to Oobleck, his voice lowering. "Is it still too hard, or are you still holding out that it's not true?"

Oobleck looked at the ceiling, "No, it was too hard to visit the grave, but I've overcome that. And it's not that it hasn't been fully confirmed or not, I know it's her. There's no way it can't be."

Taiyang poured the two drinks, and handed one to his colleague. "I figured you'd appreciate something different to drink with all that's going on," Oobleck smiled as he accepted the drink. "So, something Qrow couldn't tell me is what happened twenty years ago."

Oobleck sighed, "Have you heard of the last White Fang meeting at Mountain Glenn before the city got closed?"

"I've heard rumors," Taiyang said, "a lot of people have, but no one wants to talk about it though. She was there?"

"We all were," Oobleck said, taking a deep draft from his drink. "Amber and I mostly stuck to the side of the room, but Rosa and Mizu were taken on stage. It was quite a show, Mizu proposed to Rosa up on stage, it surprised everyone in the room other than her and me."

Taiyang laughed, "You already knew?"

Oobleck nodded, "Mizu had told me she was planning on it a month earlier. Although she had been planning on doing it in a more romantic setting, but apparently it just felt right."

"So what happened afterwards? Did Rosa say no?"

"That would explain quite a bit about what happened later on, but she accepted," Oobleck smiled. "After they got off the stage, they came right over to us and we started talking about it. I was already chosen to be Mizu's best man."

Taiyang laughed, "I'll confess I've never been to a same sex wedding, but I always figured they'd only have bridesmaids or groomsmen depending on who was getting married."

Oobleck nodded, "In Vale maybe, in Atlas, the couple can have both freely. And, let's be honest, had nothing happened, we'd have been stationed in Atlas the same way Ruby and Yang's team is now."

Taiyang nodded, "I guess that's what happens when you get teamed up with an heiress from a powerful company. So," his voice grew serious again. "What did happen next?"

Oobleck took another drink before speaking again, and when he did his voice was a little unstable, "It was a massacre. The meeting was set to last two days, so they provided sleeping bags and mats for the night in between." He shook his head slowly, and took a deep breath. "Late at night when everyone was asleep, a small group entered the room, and opened fire."

Taiyang's face fell further the longer Oobleck spoke. "And because you were asleep, no one had an Aura ready to protect them."

Oobleck nodded, "So many people died that day, and none of them had to."

"And what of Rosa and Mizu?"

"They died too, at least emotionally. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but after revisiting the place it happened, it all just came flooding back. No one can go through something like that without dying at least a little. Nothing had been the same between us anymore... " Oobleck shook his head again. "Mizu was hit hardest. She was depressed, and eventually just couldn't take it anymore."

Taiyang nodded, "Trauma can certainly induce that in a person."

Oobleck shook his head, "No, she dealt with depression her entire life. Generally stress induced episodes, but the trauma certainly didn't help."

Taiyang nodded slowly as he took a deep sip from his drink, before looking back over at his visitor, "And Rosa was just gone from your life during all of this?"

Oobleck nodded again, taking another drink. "Ever since Mountain Glenn."

* * *

"It's been two hours, and we still haven't found anything other than more halls," Weiss shook her head. "I swear the hallway has to be changing."

"I know what you mean," Ruby said. "It feels like it at times, and at others it feels like we must have made progress. But hey, we've got another turn ahead," Ruby pointed out, "and this one doesn't go left like the past five did," The turns in the hallway were difficult to make out at a distance due to the solid white of everything blending together. As they turned around the corner, they found themselves staring out at a dark patch. They couldn't make it out, but they did know it was an exit and rushed towards it. They found themselves standing on in the middle of the forest. Turning back, they saw the walls of the hallway spread out to the sides, sectioning off the cliffside. Above the tunnel, a sloped wall extended upward for nearly twenty feet before ending. "A huge building, out in the middle of nowhere, how does no one notice this?" Ruby asked, looking around.

"With so much undocumented area in the world, fairly easily," Weiss shook her head, looking around as well. Before they could do anything else, darkness appeared in front of them, revealing the man from earlier.

"What did you do? Where are we!?" Ruby demanded as she held up Crescent Rose. She didn't attack, however, and remained in a guarded stance. Weiss did the same next to her. The man remained their for a second, before raising his arm, a white flash filling the area again, nearly blinding both women. When Ruby opened her eyes again, she was alone, or nearly alone. The man was still in front of her. Before she could do anything else however, the man departed. He didn't vanish into thin air, instead he backed into the thicket of trees not even a foot behind him, his black clothing blending almost perfectly, the only thing giving him away being the unceasing glow of his mask.

* * *

Yang and Blake pushed farther into the forest, the moon's position telling them they were moving south. The further they moved, the thicker the forest became. While they'd entered the living part of the forest a decent ways back, as they pushed farther south, the trees became healthier, and larger, and with it, an increase in the underbrush. It also became clear that the hallways of the illusion had twisted and turned to take advantage of natural trails through the forest. "So, how much longer?" Yang asked.

Blake checked her scroll, "Soon, hopefully." Almost immediately after speaking, they broke out of the forest and found themselves in the old town. Or what was left of it. With the combination of the moon shining overhead and the glow of the illusion spread through the area, Yang was able to make out nearly as much as Blake could. The town was almost entirely gone. The buildings that still stood were in far worse shape than what they'd seen earlier, and close to ninety percent of it was burned to the ground, with most of it looking recent. The church, where they'd planned on making camp for the night, was in immense disrepair. It was missing a roof, not partially, but entirely, and one of the walls was completely gone as well. Stepping into the church's remains, they saw that the stones that would have fallen inside had been moved to either side of it. "Did we…"

"Enter the illusion a lot earlier than we thought." Yang finished the sentence for her. "It definitely looks that way. He didn't trap us in one in the church, we were always in one, he just changed it."

"It wasn't the first time too, remember the scenes we saw beforehand?" Blake pointed out. Yang nodded, looking sullen. "It looks like the fires were real though," Blake said, looking at the ashes of some of the old remains, "or at least some of them were."

"Yeah, but we certainly weren't saving as much as we thought," Yang said, sitting on some of the stones outside of the church. "This is wrong on so many levels. I hope Ruby and Weiss are better off than us."

* * *

Ruby pushed her way through the forest, afraid of what was going on. When she'd chased after the man, he'd been gone, having disappeared behind the trees instead of directly in front of her as the woman tended to do. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to press onwards, and as she pushed farther and farther through, the trees became less and less densely grouped, and she felt a cold wind begin to blow past her, causing her to pull her cloak around her fully, something she did rarely. As the minutes passed, she felt snow begin to fall around her. It wasn't heavy, but it was plentiful. Looking up, she saw that the sky directly overhead was clear, the, the snow was blowing in from the north.

As she continued onwards, she found herself outside of the forest, meaning she was close to the northern edge of the plateau, even if she didn't know it. Ruby didn't stop moving, her mind was wandering elsewhere, and she just continued on without thinking. She walked for several minutes until she reached a cliffside. She could see more trees extending beneath her, as well as several other rocky faces beneath also covered in snow. She looked from side to side around her, the wind had kicked up even more, and snow was billowing around her, obscuring the trees in the distance behind her, but didn't fully obscure what was resting on the ground on a part of the cliff that jutted out past the main cliffside.

Ruby made her way over to whatever it was. As she did, she walked slowly, keeping her cloak around her for warmth. As she got closer, Ruby noticed that it was made out of stone, and whatever it was had a series of engravings on it. When she stepped out onto the rocky outcropping, the engravings became clearer, it was a flower symbol nearly identical to her own. No, it _was_ identical to hers, but it was not hers. Ruby fell to her knees, tears in her eyes after she read the epitaph.

_Summer Rose_

_Thus Kindly I Scatter_

* * *

"So, what do you think of our future hire?" Ironwood asked as Albero entered his office again.

"I think she'll do great here," Albero said, sitting back down. "She's very bright, observant, and well learned. Eis made a big mistake disowning her."

"It's amazing how many bad decisions can come from being blinded by emotions," Ironwood said, grabbing a bottle from his desk. "I just wish we didn't have to wait until she turned eighteen."

"It's funny isn't it?" Albero asked, accepting the drink Ironwood poured him. "The military can't legally hire anyone for any reason until they're legally an adult, yet prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses like her sister begin training not too long after they become teenagers. No, now that I say it, it's not funny," he shook his head. "Kids shouldn't be taught to fight at that age."

"No they shouldn't, but it gets results, so it continues," Ironwood said, taking his own sip. "I have people graduate from Outlook who are fiercer warriors than all but the most hardened of veterans from the military. The only thing we have that can compare is Penny, and even then the best of the graduates are better than her by leaps and bounds."

"And that's just here, Beacon's students are even stronger," Albero smiled, "no offense."

Ironwood laughed, "None taken, that's something all headmasters have to accept. I fear the day Oz decides to retire."

"Do you think he'll really retire? He's more than eighty and he's still going strong," Albero noted.

"Yes, but even he's only got so much steam driving him," Ironwood took a sip, "but I will concede he probably won't stop training future generations until the moment he drops dead." At that moment, Ironwood's computer beeped with an incoming call. "Speak his name, and he shall appear," Ironwood said, answering.

"James," Ozpin's face appeared on his monitor, "are you alone?"

"No, I have Albero with me," Ironwood responded.

"Not for long," Albero said, standing, "I've got work to finish." Ironwood nodded, and Albero departed.

"Good," Ozpin said, Goodwitch's and Qrow's faces appearing on the screen.

"I have to say," Qrow said, sounding as if he was continuing a conversation that had never stopped, "I'm impressed with JNPR's info collecting capabilities. Give them a few years, and they may be better than I am."

Goodwitch shook her head, "Yes, but that would also be the combined efforts of four people compared to one."

"True, but they certainly don't have Qrow's drive," Ironwood noted.

"Nor his drunkenness," Goodwitch added.

"And I hope they never do," Qrow said, ignoring Goodwitch's comment. "I respect someone who can give me a run for my money, but I wouldn't wish disappearing family members on anyone."

"What did you find?" Ozpin changed the subject. "You said you had information earlier."

"That I do," Qrow nodded. "It appears that the White Fang has allowed itself to get spotted yet again. Over the last month, several people wearing their uniform have been seen aboard ships travelling from Vacuo to Atlas. What it is they're doing in Atlas, I can only guess, but with what all's there, I can't imagine it's good."

Ironwood nodded, "If I were to guess, I would probably say they're finally following through on their threats against the SDC once and for all."

"There's another thing," Qrow said. "I've gotten info on one specific member, one Adam Taurus."

"He's supposed to be dead," Goodwitch said. "Blake told us that he died."

"She did," Ironwood nodded.

"How did she confirm it?" Qrow asked, looking between their faces on his scroll screen. Ironwood didn't respond. "Oh come on James, don't do this again. Two way street, remember?"

"James," Ozpin said after a minute, "you were in charge of the counter White Fang operations, so you must know, how did she confirm it?"

Ironwood sighed, looking away from his monitor, "She said her Aura unlocked."

"That would mean," Goodwitch spoke up, her eyes widening in surprise and horror.

"We know what it means," Qrow interrupted her. "And it doesn't matter, Adam was, and is, an extremely dangerous person, we all would have done the same thing. So that's not important right now. I just want to know how he's still around if Blake was telling the truth."

"She certainly believes she is, but regardless of how, he still is, and I can't imagine his influence has lessened from his last stand after Cinder disappeared. Meaning the important thing is that we need to prepare for what's to come," Ironwood said. "I should alert the council."

"If you want permission to have your droids begin patrolling, then yes," Qrow said, "but for some preliminary investigations, that's not necessary. Subtlety reasons, you know."

"Yes," Ironwood grunted, "I should instead wait for next year's students to start and send a group of first years."

"You know that's not what he meant," Goodwitch said defensively.

"Yes, I know," Ironwood said, taking a deep breath and rubbing his forehead, "Things have been busy around lately in general. With the precautions I've advised, and the Hunting Council have agreed on there's only so many available Huntsmen at any given time. Once a team's worth is ready, I can have them begin looking into White Fang activity. But with this woman going around, things are a little… difficult to manage."

"Who are you thinking of sending?" Ozpin asked.

"I don't know, probably whoever's done with their mission first," Ironwood admitted, before his eyes widened, "actually, I do have a free team. As of tomorrow, Team SSSN will be beginning their month of required patrols." He letting out a short laugh. "And with Team RWBY's history, they'll probably be taking this on as their mission if I don't assign them anyway, so this works out even better."

"It would certainly seem that way," Qrow said, his tone unreadable.

Ironwood looked at him curiously, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"There are many things I haven't told you James, and for good reason," Qrow said, dropping out of the call.

"And he talks to me about sharing everything," Ironwood shook his head.

"In all our years working together, Qrow hasn't hidden anything related to what we've asked of him," Goodwitch rebuked. "If he doesn't discuss his investigations into what happened to Raven, that's none of our business."

Ironwood sighed, "I just wonder what would happen if those things overlapped."

* * *

Weiss couldn't see, she was still blinded by the flash, but she was also flying through the air. She'd been kicked in the stomach and a burst of wind had sent her soaring along. After a few moments, she struck the ground and rolled, the cold of the snow threatening to soak through her leggings, and felt the same thing in her gloves. As she skidded along the ground, she felt snow bleed through the relatively thin fabric, the cold pressing directly against her skin. When she came to a stop, Weiss shook her head and was glad that she was more resilient to the cold than most, if not to the same extent as Yang.

Sitting up, Weiss took off the leggings. While the cold air would be uncomfortable, it was better than having the snow that had entered the leggings pressing directly against her legs. She then removed her gloves, and decided to look around. Weiss's jaw dropped, she wasn't in the forest anymore. Looking around, she saw that she wasn't standing in snow at all, it was a stage, and she could see her reflection on the flooring. Looking up, she saw the moon, appearing only very slightly broken hanging above her. It was then that Weiss realized that Myrtenaster was not at her side. Looking around, she didn't see it anywhere, nor did she see her discarded leggings and gloves.

As she looked around, she realized that she knew what the building was, it was Farraige, one of the most famous theaters in all of Atlas, and was owned, maintained, and even rebuilt by her family for generations, the Schnee family crest being noticeable in several places in the hall. Her mother had taken her and Winter many times when they were younger. Weiss had first wanted to learn how to sing after visiting and watching one of her mother's favorite plays. However, it wasn't set up for a play right now, but nor was it empty. It slowly dawned on her that a large crowd of people were all staring at the stage. She couldn't make out any faces, they were all cast in shadow, but she knew they were all waiting for something.

Weiss took a step forward uncertainly, and a large spotlight was cast onto the floor in front of her. She stopped and looked around, waiting for whoever was supposed to come out, but no one did. Weiss crossed her hands in front of her and looked at the ground nervously before stepping forward again. "Ladies and gentlemen," an announcer called out to the room, as she entered the spotlight, "please welcome, Weiss Schnee." Weiss froze as she heard the crowd being to applaud. _I've never performed in front of a group before. Just my friends,_ Weiss thought, looking up at the crowd. Their faces were even harder to make out with the lights blaring in her eyes. _And beyond that,_ she thought as a soft piano began playing in the background, _what is going on?_

Weiss closed her eyes, wishing for it to stop, but she knew the song too well, and the melody continued on in her mind. Opening her eyes again, Weiss secretly hoped everything was over, but the crowd was still there. Weiss took a deep breath, and closed her eyes again as the song reached a critical point, and Weiss found herself singing, "Mirroooor, tell me soooomethiiiing… Tell me who's the loooonlieeest of aaaaaall." The crowd didn't say anything, even as Weiss mentally screamed at herself. Those weren't the lyrics to the song, no those were her own version that she'd written after her mother had left her and she'd started her original feud with Winter.

After a moment and a break in the music she knew was coming started, Weiss opened her eyes. The crowd was gone, instead across from her on stage was a giant suit of armor that was knelt down. She froze for a moment. _No, it can't- _she perished the thought from her mind as the spotlight expanded to include the both of them as the music started up once again, sounding more urgent this time around. While this was happening, the armor stood up as if of its own volition and raised an immense sword. At it's full height, Weiss could see that it was very similar to some of the suits her family owned. _Including the one-_ Suddenly, the armor turned quickly and brought its blade crashing down. Weiss was too quick for it, however, and backflipped out of the way, pushing herself out of the way with her hands just in time for the blade to come crashing down as she fully focused her mind. The strike was right in tune to the music, and in her mind, Weiss could hear the lyrics she'd written in secret so long ago come flooding to her, beginning right as the blade struck the ground.

_Mirror,_ she quickly reached for Myrtenaster without thinking, but surprisingly found it at her side once again. Raising it, she dashed at the armor, _Tell me something, _her rapier glanced off of the armor's giant sword. She went flying into the air past it, but was able to right herself and land on the ground just in time. The armor struck out again with its blade, but Weiss quickly dashed out of the way, the Dust in Myrtenaster hastening her practiced movements. _Tell me who's the loneliest,_ she took advantage of the armor's back being turned to her and struck out at it, attacking its legs several times before jumping and striking its chestplate, and even striking its helmet once, _of all. _The armor swung its blade, sending Weiss flying backwards, and skidding across the ground, Myrtenaster being all that had prevented it from striking her directly.

Weiss didn't have time for a break however, for as soon as she came to a stop, she saw the armor in the air above her, its sword positioned ready to come crashing down on her. _Mirror,_ Weiss quickly flipped to the side to dodge, before jumping over the sword as it came flying across the ground. The armor wasn't ready to stop, and immediately changed course to strike at her again, this blow knocking her back again. _What's inside me?_

Weiss wasn't able to maintain her balance, and she went skidding across the floor on her back. However, she was able to quickly flip back up onto her feet and stop her movement, fluidly moving her free right hand to call on some Dust from Myrtenaster. _Tell me can a heart,_ she formed one of her glyphs beneath herself with it, and used it to temporarily increase her speed even further than just the base Dust on its own could as she propelled herself at the armor once again, _be turned, _she moved so fast the armor's attack missed without even coming close to her, _to stoooone? _Weiss formed another glyph to launch herself into the air, and a third in the air to launch herself off of.

Landing behind the armor, Weiss began another assault. She delivered several slashes with Myrtenaster, however, the rapier's strikes weren't effective in dealing damage, only in moving the armor backwards a few steps. As she heard a piano play loudly, Weiss formed another glyph and launched herself into the air, using Myrtenaster's tip to break the armor's grip on its sword, if only with one of its hands. She then formed another glyph and launched herself at the armor again, this time to try and break its hold on the giant sword entirely. The armor held on however, and struck out with its blade with a wide sweep, only to miss due to Weiss forming yet another glyph beneath her. The armor's next strike worked, however, as it forwent its blade to sucker punch her.

The blow sent Weiss flying backwards, where she landed on her stomach. Slowly she picked herself off the ground as the music changed in tone once again. She nearly fell backwards as she thought about what had happened. She closed her eyes for a moment as she began standing as best she could, Myrtenaster dropping to the floor. Despite only being closed for a moment at longest, when she opened her eyes again, the armor was gone, she was standing before the crowd again as the lights dimmed. Above her the clouds that had begun shrouding the moon parted bathing her in its pale light as she opened her mouth to pant, an aria blaring in her mind. She collapsed again as the scene around her changed, with the armor once again across from her. Glancing down, Weiss saw her reflection on the ground. Where her scar should have been, there was, instead, a large amount of blood. She gripped Myrtenaster, and slowly stood up as her mental aria came to its end. A fierce expression crossing her face, Weiss held Myrtenaster out towards the armor before bringing it to her side, and working the chamber to spin it around to select Fire Dust. Pulling the trigger, the Dust was moved into the blade itself, and Myrtenaster began to glow red. As the music began to swell, the armor launched itself at Weiss. As soon as she was within range, the armor struck again. Seeing the blow coming, Weiss parried with Myrtenaster, the Fire Dust within the blade causing the armor to recoil backwards while Weiss was perfectly fine. She then spun around and struck the ground, instinctively switching the chamber to ice, knowing she still had enough for what she had planned.

_Mirror mirror,_ ice spread out over the ground freezing the armor's legs in place, _what's behind you? _The armor raised its sword to strike again, for Weiss was still within its range. _Save me from the things I see! _Weiss saw how it was going to attack however, and jumped atop the swinging sword as it passed by. Her momentum caused her to roll forward on the blade before she was able to bring herself to a stop. Weiss struck out again, pulling the trigger to fill the blade with a yellow Dust mixture for speed. This blow succeeded in doing what she'd attempted earlier, and disarmed the armor. _I can keep it from the world, _Weiss landed just as the armor's sword landed tip first in the ground behind her, _why won't you let me hide from me?_

_Mirror, _the now weaponless armor charged at Weiss again as a glyph appeared beneath her, as she spun Myrtenaster's chamber again to see how much Ice Dust she had remaining and mentally smirked, she'd been right about having just enough Ice remaining, _mirror, _she created a small glyph in front of her, with a larger version of it appearing beneath the armor holding it in place for a moment before launching it into the air, _tell me something. _Weiss created several miniature glyphs that she sent out to restrain the now helpless armor's arms in place, _Tell me who's the loneliest of aaall!? _As the last few words blared in her mind, Weiss created yet another glyph to launch herself high into the air. As she soared, the performer in her mind extended her arms out for the crowd that wasn't there anymore as she readied to strike the armor down once and for all as she silhouetted herself against the moon.

_I'm, _she spun the chamber around to the empty Ice chamber, and pulled the trigger, _the, _because the chamber was empty, Myrtenaster instead filled the chamber with a different type of Dust hidden within the chamber instead of from the one of the cartridges on the outside, _loneliest, _white intricate markings lit up throughout the weapon as the Dust filled the blade, the pure formless energy flooding through not only the weapon but her body as well, enhancing her abilities. She formed one final glyph behind her and launched herself at the armor striking it clean through. She had closed her eyes for the blow, concentrating on controlling the unstable Dust she was using. When she landed, she slowly stood up, Myrtenaster being left on the ground as she sang, "oooooooooof aaaaall."

When she opened her eyes once again, she was standing before the crowd once again as they cheered. Snow was also falling around her, looking up, Weiss saw the moon hanging overhead, the snow falling through the open skylights. Weiss bowed her head and grabbed the hem of her combat skirt as she gave a proper curtsy for the crowd as the curtains pulled in front of her. When the curtains closed however, the applause was cut out so that she only heard a single pair of hands clapping. Turning around to where the armor would have landed, Weiss found herself face to face with the mysterious man, the brown markings on his mask still glowing.

His clapping was slow, but it didn't seem sarcastic, if anything it seemed in awe. "Enjoy my performance did you?" Weiss asked, reaching down for Myrtenaster. "Did you make that armor?" The man didn't respond, instead Weiss felt herself take a strong blow to the back of the head, her already weak body collapsing entirely. As she fell to the ground, the man in front of her dissolved, as did the theater, the ceiling and walls blowing away into the wind in small pieces. As she fell, she found herself lying in the middle of a large clearing in the forest. "W-what?" Weiss asked weakly as she was forced onto her back as she saw the now fully complete moon hanging overhead as snow continued to fall around her. The man's mask appeared in her range of vision, the markings on it no longer glowing. His hand covered her face and obscured her vision as she passed out entirely.

* * *

Blake and Yang made their way through the ruined town, the lights marking the halls around them holding steady in their positioning through the town. As they approached the entrance to the old mine, Yang shook her head. "This is ridiculous how massive this thing is," Yang said, looking at one of the trails of light.

"I know what you mean," Blake said, looking at the lowered forest, "I guess he had nothing to hide in the woods."

"Yeah, I gue-" Yang stopped as the lights around them faded away, the pale moonlight above being the only light in the area, but it was more than enough for Yang to see what was happening nearly as well as Blake, and what they saw was the trees in the pit begin to seemingly disintegrate and blow away in a wind that didn't exist. As the trees vanished, something else became apparent, a large black mass. As the trees continued to vanish, it became evident that the black mass was a large decaying Grimm.

"I guess we found what brought the Grimm to the area," Blake said, her superior night vision allowing her to make out details that Yang couldn't. It looked like a massive Beowolf. Next to her Yang nodded.

"Illusions within illusions, why would they hide a dead Grimm?" Yang asked, walking down towards it to get a better look.

"I don't know," Blake grabbed Yang's shoulder and shook her head. Her angular amber colored eyes seeming to glow lightly in the dark. "But we should turn back to looking for Ruby and Weiss, I can give a report about what that thing is."

Yang let out a humorless laugh, "Assuming we get off this mountain, we've still got another two days before we're returned to the city." Blake nodded slowly. "But you're right, we should look for them. We were split up for a reason, hopefully it means we're too dangerous to him together."

* * *

When Ruby's tears stopped falling, she still didn't move for another few minutes. It wasn't until a strong wind began blowing past her that she began to stand again. However, when she raised her head up, she froze, a white figure was standing on the other side of the headstone. Ruby remained there staring at the woman for a few moments, feeling too drained, both physically and emotionally, after the events of the past few hours to react otherwise. After a few moments the figure seemed to disintegrate and blow away in the wind. Standing up entirely, Ruby looked back down at the headstone for a few more moments as the wind died down somewhat, but not completely. Ruby just stood there staring at the headstone for nearly a minute further before turning around and slowly walking away, the snow falling softly around her the entire time. Ruby walked onward heading back towards the forest, knowing it was south at the very least. She walked onward at a decent pace, her cloak wrapped around her for warmth the entire time as she went. Vaguely, she heard rustling around her, but she couldn't bring herself to care, she just wanted to get back to her friends, her family. After what felt like an eternity, Ruby found herself walking out into an immense clearing in the dead trees.

She stopped, and looked around. Emerging from all of the trees around her were numerous Beowolves. They were surrounding her, and at once, three of them stormed at her. They got close before lunging at her, and in the blink of an eye, Ruby was gone, only rose petals left behind as the Grimm fell through where she had been. Ruby had tapped into her Semblance and had jumped above them high into the air. The Beowolves quickly located her, but they couldn't reach her, they could only stare as the red figure above them surveyed the area as her cloak fluttered behind her.

Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose from its holster, and quickly took aim and fired. The shot killed one Beowolf immediately as its face was blasted apart. As it fell to the ground, more moved past it to attack Ruby as she landed. The moment Ruby landed, she worked the rifle's bolt, ejecting the spent shell casing from her shot. She didn't have a moment to rest, however, as the Grimm were already within striking range. Seeing an opening, Ruby jumped over the monster of Grimm and fired a shot downward, killing it as well as the recoil launched her past it, where she worked the bolt once again in midair. She flew directly towards another Grimm that she killed with a shot to its stomach before she even got within range of its claws. The recoil from the shot slowed her forward movement, and she flipped so that she landed on the ground and rolled as she worked the bolt again, ready to fire as soon as she was on her feet again. With yet another Beowolf near her, she did just that.

Her next shot pushed her backwards, which she converted into a roll that got her away from the Grimm as she worked the bolt. She took advantage of the time to shift Crescent Rose into its main scythe form. A lone Beowolf was the next to attack, and Ruby spun around to hook the blade behind it. The Beowolf growed and opened its mouth, more than likely ready to bite her, but Ruby never gave it a chance. Before she fired, she gave the monstrous Grimm a small smile before glaring intently forward. She fired Crescent Rose, the recoil paired with Ruby's arm movement causing the scythe to cut it in half through the chest and stomach. As the newly dead Grimm began decaying away, a small horde attacked next. With their distance Ruby had enough time to reposition the weapon around her so that the tip of Crescent Rose was embedded in the ground. She even worked the bolt as she spun it around, ejecting the last round's spent shell casing from the inbuilt rifle. She fired shot after shot on the oncoming horde, killing several of its members. By the time the horde reached her, there was only one left. Jumping into the air, Ruby fired at point blank range, not only killing the Beowolf, but propelling herself backwards as well.

Ruby stopped her backwards flight by replanting Crescent Rose into the ground, and, using her momentum, swung atop the weapon so that she was standing on its shaft, her light frame allowing it to to remain in the ground, even shifting forward a bit. Standing atop the weapon, she saw another group of Beowolves entering the clearing, their numbers far greater than the entire original group that had attacked her. As the first Grimm reached her, Ruby spun around to dodge its attack, and placed her feet in the small part between the shaft and the back of the weapon's head, her body lying against the shaft. Pulling the trigger, Ruby shot a second Beowolf that was close to attack, and launched herself at the first one. She kicked the Beowolf away from her, allowing her to land in safety and work the bolt. The next Grimm to get close to her was struck with a series of swift strikes. As the one she kicked away approached again, Ruby moved forward, her back swing hooking it, and her next forward swing sliced it clean in two as she attacked the one in front of her again, quickly killing it with a shot to its stomach as she changed target to a third Grimm that had tried to attack. She quickly hooked the blade around its neck, and with another shot, beheaded it as Crescent Rose flew backwards, Ruby moving with the weapon to maintain her control over it, even kneeling down a bit.

Her movements were exceptionally skilled, her years of practice with the weapon evident with each practiced swing, each shot fired in the blink of an eye, each cycle of the bolt as she swung. As the next Beowolf attacked, Ruby spun out of the way and readied Crescent Rose again. She quickly spun a second time, this time repositioning the scythe to strike the Beowolf before hooking it. Working the bolt once again, Ruby readied herself as yet another Beowolf attacked. She fired Crescent Rose, its blade bisecting the hooked Grimm, and its shot killing the other. Ruby flipped to avoid the dead Grimm's flying body as it struck another one before landing, knocking the other Grimm to the ground.

As two more Grimm attack, Ruby did two backflips to avoid their strikes and get out of the way. Using her speed, she quickly dashed forward and struck out, cutting off one of the Beowolf's arms. Her swing carried Crescent Rose behind her back, where she held it for a moment before striking out again, her next swings cutting off one of its legs, killing it from the trauma. As the other Beowolf she'd dodged struck out, Ruby hooked the scythe around its neck and swung herself around so she landed on its back. With yet another shot, she beheaded it, and flew out of the way. The remaining Beowolves weren't content just waiting and watching, and jumped up after her. With another shot, Ruby launched herself at an oncoming Beowolf, quickly striking its head before delivering a shot to its head as she kicked off of its body to gain more height. As she flew, she fired downward again, at another Beowolf, as well as prolonging her flight even more.

As she fell, she sliced through another Beowolf, and saw yet another one preparing to strike. Just before she landed, Ruby moved Crescent Rose between her and the beast, guarding herself from the strike. The blow was still enough to send her flying backwards, however, and Ruby had to plant Crescent Rose into the ground to regain control. After she landed, Ruby glared at the mass of Grimm that remained, and ejected the magazine from Crescent Rose's shaft. She wasn't out of ammo, no, she was switching ammo types. Grabbing a replacement magazine marked with a black circle and four arrows pointing in on towards it in a plus shape from her pouch, Ruby loaded it into Crescent Rose and worked the bolt again to replace the chambered round with one from the new magazine as she swung the weapon around to prepare for another strike. It wasn't an ammo type she normally used, but she was growing increasingly tired, not all that much physically, but the more she fought, the more she was feeling the emotional strain from the day affect her, and she wanted to end it then and there.

With a quick shot backwards, Ruby was propelled forward at an incredible rate, the new ammo type's recoil augmented to be even more powerful than normal with a mixture of Fire and Wind Dust, among others, producing its black flares as she fired. As she flew from the first shot, she easily mowed down three Grimm without even slowing down. With a second shot, she launched herself even faster. With her Semblance, she was able to run shortly on the ground before jumping slightly with yet another shot to propel herself as fast as possible. With this final shot, Ruby manipulated Crescent Rose so that it's blade shifted in position to extend outward from the shaft instead of cutting at an angle as it normally did to reduce drag, allowing herself to fly over the ground at incredible speeds. Quickly shifting the scythe back to its standard shape, she fired yet again. Using the final shot to spin herself through the air, Ruby cut down a line of Grimm before landing. When she did land, she slid across the snow covered ground and worked the blade around her, bisecting several Grimm horizontally, vertically, and in between as she went. As she continued her final assault, limbs and shells flew around her before falling back to the ground with the snow. Her last swing brought Crescent Rose around in its war scythe shape, slicing one last Beowolf in half before she shifted it back to its default shape as she delivered one final shot to kill it and launch herself backwards.

As she landed, she held Crescent Rose behind her, ready to strike should any more Beowolves, or any other type of Grimm, come to attack. As she stood there, shells rained down around her. After standing there for a moment, the adrenaline began to wear off, and Ruby collapsed to the ground. The stress and physical drain coming back in full force. As she lay there, she heard the stomping of feet approach her, and the last thing she saw was the masked man standing over her, his mask no longer glowing.

* * *

The woman backed away as Fox struck out yet again. His attacks were swift and precise, but the woman was able to dodge all of them. Fox spun quickly to strike at the woman's left side, but he was knocked away as his blows glanced off stone. He didn't let up, striking out with his speed, pushing the woman back to the edge of the roof. Running out of room, the woman turned to the offensive, striking out at her attacker, parrying his strike, causing him to recoil backwards. Before she could do anything else, the sound of a spinning minigun reached them as Coco prepared to fire once again. Before the woman could react, she heard the rumbling of thunder above her head as another bolt of lightning prepared to strike.

Launching herself into the air, the lightning struck the roof where she'd been. As she flew, Coco fired on her figure. The woman brought her limbs together, her black figure being hard to see in the night sky to the three humans, but not impossible, and Coco's barrage of fire quickly approached her. With a soft glow from her mask, gloves, and boots, stone covered her body, protecting it, if only partially as Coco's high caliber rounds quickly chipped it apart. However, before it broke apart, she released the stone, dropping it onto the Huntress, who quickly rolled out of the way. While the stone didn't strike her, it did interrupt her fire. Taking advantage of the break, when the woman reached the other roof top, she reached out with her hand towards Velvet. Velvet, however had switched to a different Dust type, and used wind to blow the woman away while the woman's hand crackled with electricity. She flew away from Velvet and towards the ground, blasting her own wind at the ground to slow her rapid descent so that she landed safely on her feet.

She wasn't afforded a break, however, as Yatsuhashi swung his large sword downward at her. Dodging out of the way, the woman rolled to the side as the large man's blade struck the ground, shattering the pavement. Yatsuhashi was a slow attacker, and the woman took advantage of this to strike his side with her electricity covered glove and blade. The tip of the blade concentrated the force of her initial blow in a small area as the electricity crackled over his body, quickly draining his Aura with its countless small strikes over his body. Before she could do anything else, Fox struck her from behind, knocking her away from his teammate. As she slid across the ground, she flipped herself over and finished her slide on her feet with her hands supporting.

Her slide ended right at the end of the barrel of Coco's gun. A cocky smile appeared on the young woman's face as the minigun began spinning up. The masked woman kicked out at Coco, knocking the gun away, but not before it had started firing, a small number of shots struck the woman as it swung away, the distinctive dark blue flashes of her Aura marking where they hit. Coco stopped firing to avoid stray shots, and the gun began collapsing in on itself into its handbag storage form as it moved through the air so that Coco could swing it around more easily. Moving out of the way, the woman avoided Coco's follow up swing. The woman responded with yet more dust, and, seeing a large mass of light, Coco rolled out of the way yet again, as a large fireball struck the ground where she'd been standing.

The next attack came from Fox, who struck out, using his speed to attack her from the sides yet again. The woman responded by coating her arms in stone to catch the blades. Fox responded by changing target towards the woman's body instead of her sides, prompting her to pin her arms together, catching one of Fox's blades, pinning him in place. Almost immediately, Yatsuhashi moved in, striking the woman from the side as Fox had tried to. The woman promptly kicked Fox away from her, and moved her left arm to intercept the strike. The stone on her arm shattered under the fierce blow, and a dark blue flash filled the area as her Aura blocked the blow, knocking her to the ground on her hands and knees. Fox readied himself for another strike when he was tripped by an expanding mass of stone beneath his feet, only to have a pillar erupt out of it and strike his stomach, the same happening to Yatsuhashi next to him.

The two of them were knocked into the air as Coco jumped into the fray, striking out with her handbag, its large weight shattering the blades of stone around her as she pushed forward, shattering even more pillars that threatened to block her path. Coco's assault was aided by Velvet as the rabbit eared girl was able to more clearly see the events going on with her better vision and her vantage point. Velvet called down a shower of ice over the woman, however with a quick twist of the woman's hands, the ice was blown away, but the distraction was enough for Coco to get in close enough to strike her directly. The blow caught the woman under the chin, the blue flash of her Aura being the only thing keeping her from crumpling under the fierce blow, but it wasn't enough to prevent her from being knocked into the air, where Fox, having recovered from his last blow struck out once again, his blade hooking under her hood. The woman blew Fox away and landed on the opposite end of the alley from Fox and Coco, Yatsuhashi struggling to stand up behind them while Coco redeployed her minigun.

Upon landing, the woman slammed her hands onto the ground, a shell of stone erupting up around her, with several more layers moving around her, ice filling in the open space. Velvet sent a barrage of fireballs at the shell, the ice melting to the heat while Coco's insane number of rounds being fired quickly wore away the stone until it cracked through to the center. "It's empty," Velvet said, looking down at it.

"Great," Coco said, storing her weapon, and cocking her head to the side for a moment before turning around to look at Yatsuhashi, "You okay?"

"Tired," Yatsuhashi answered, collapsing to the ground as Fox dashed out towards the shell, climbing inside for a moment.

"Did you find something?" Coco asked, turning to the man as he quickly came back.

"I did," Fox answered, holding it out. "When I hit her last, my blade moved through her hood and cut off some of her hair." Coco nodded, looking at it as Velvet climbed down to join them.

"We should check with the others," Velvet said after reaching the rest of the group as she helped Yatsuhashi stand. The team walked out of the alley and onto the main street where there was a crowd gathered, and Velvet heard police sirens in the distance.

"What happened?" Ren asked, as they approached.

"Is she dead?" Nora asked, sounding hopeful. Velvet shook her head as Fox walked over to Jaune.

Jaune took the hair from Fox and looked at it, "Pink?"

"It's hers," Fox said. Jaune nodded, looking back at the mass of hair in his hand.

* * *

Scarlett's scroll beeped with a new message. She picked it up and quickly read through it. _I know you just left, but something come up and I need you here now._ Scarlett sighed and stood up off of her chair to change into her uniform. After a few minutes, she walked back into the room and reread Eis' last message.

"Is there anything you can do without my help anymore?" Scarlett asked herself, shaking her head as she put her scroll into her pocket. "Well, yes, but that involved disowning both of your daughters." Scarlett took a deep sigh and walked over to her table to get a few last minute things before leaving. "I can't wait until you're out of my hair once and for all."

* * *

After closing herself in the shell of stone, the woman pulled her hood back up, and transported herself. The next thing she knew, she was standing in the remains of the old mining town on the plateau of Valak Mountain. Next to her was the man, and in front of them were Blake and Yang, both of them staring at the dead Grimm. The two of them snuck up on the duo and delivered powerful blows to the back of their heads, knocking them out as their Auras flashed, the white light illuminating the area for a moment. "Your call threw me off," the woman said, looking down at Yang.

"Caught in a fight?" the man asked, turning towards her.

"Yes," the woman answered, her voice never rising above a monotone, "two in fact, two different teams of Huntsmen." The woman looked over at where Blake was lying. "This seems a little too extreme."

"It's a test," the man responded.

"Some test," the woman shook her head. "You didn't need to go this far."

"Well, the test was for the other two, not them," the man clarified. "But if they can pass the next part, then more power to them."

"You know what I meant. You'd better have a good reason for this. And speaking of others, did you call everyone here?"

"I do have a reason," the man answered jovially, as he turned around. "And as for the others," the woman turned as well to see two other men, their own masks marked with a forest green and a dark almost maroon red, between them was a woman whose mask was marked with orange, "some of them even helped me test them." As he said this last bit, a second woman made herself known next to the man with the red marked mask, Ruby and Weiss's unconscious forms on each of her shoulders. Her mask was marked with black.

The orange masked woman stepped forward, looking at the brown masked man, "So, boss, what do we do next?"

End of Part 2: Six Masks

**A/N3: So, since I know it's probably going to be going through everyone's minds: Will all of the masked people be getting flashback chapters about them? Yes, but not immediately. My rules for flashbacks: 1) The person the flashback is about must appear in the chapter, and must encounter someone who isn't another one of their little group. 2) If multiple appear, the one who has the most focus will be the one to get the next flashback chapter. 3) There will never be multiple flashbacks back to back 4) Certain members, such as the man, henceforth known as Brown Mask, will not get flashbacks until certain events happen in the present day. In addition, most of them won't get as many flashbacks as Blue Mask for reasons that will be explained later when it's possible to mention without spoiling anything.**

**A/N4: So, it should be obvious, but some of the events shown in this chapter are a little anachronic, specifically I'm referring to what's happening to Team JNPR related to what's going on with Team RWBY. Basically the entire confrontation between Team JNPR and the woman, let's call her Blue Mask, took place right at the end of what was going on with Team RWBY and Brown Mask.**

**A/N5: So, where was my original vision for Chapter 8 supposed to end? With Team CFVY taking over the fight against Blue Mask. However, that would have meant that that chapter would have been more than 30,000 words long, and I've given myself a rough 20,000 word limit before I break it up, and I definitely will if I go over 21,000. For reference, when this and the previous chapter were written together before being broken up, they totaled over 25,000, and is even longer now with rewrites and edits. Exception: Flashback chapters will be as long as they wind up being, but they also don't constantly switch between more than five different viewpoints, so there's that helping keep the length down.**

**A/N6: I watched the "Red" Trailer and the "White" Trailer way too much for my own good. I was seriously just using the J key to quick rewind the video by 10 seconds on youtube, and I would just watch that same clip over and over and over and over again to study what was going on to get a good written version of it. Then after writing it, I would reread it, then watch that clip over again, and repeat at least 2 more times. Then repeat the process when I got to the next small segment to write down. It took about an hour and a half to two hours to write down those sections. Each. Also, I didn't plan on matching the trailers for very minor details, but by sheer coincidence I wrote that one of Myrtenaster's chambers was empty, and in the trailer, when Weiss deals her finishing blow, you can see that one of the chambers is empty. I actually went back and rewrote part of that trailer for some more focus on smaller details just because of that. I mean, hey, I started writing this in honor of Monty, so I figured this was a way to really honor some of his work.**

**A/N7: Now that I've revealed just how many masked people we're dealing with, let's talk about**** how exactly the idea for this fic came about. This is something that originally came to mind while I was playing Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix HD. Specifically the Data Rematches against the members of Organization XIII. Anyone familiar with the series (or Google if they aren't) should be able to immediately see the design similarities between them, and our masked friends. Basically, I was in the middle of a huge RWBY kick at the time, and while I was doing each of the fights, my mind kept wandering to how would the four main girls manage using teamwork against a single powerful opponent as powerful as an Organization member, and it just kind of took on a life of its own in my head. Although, I will say here and now, that there will not be 13 masked antagonists (discounting the White Fang), six is where it's staying.**

**A/N8: Coincidences are amazing sometimes. When I wrote Chapter 8, at least the version that got uploaded, I wrote in a reference to RvB's "You ever wonder why we're here?" gag, and then the next episode that came out for the public the day after I uploaded it had a reference to that gag in it. Now, granted, I have a sponsorship, so I actually saw that gag about an hour before I uploaded the chapter and just said f it, I'm keeping it. That on its own was funny, but then something else happened. I'd been planning on having Albero's arm being robotic… not since the very beginning, but for a decent amount of time now, and then, while writing these last two chapters, Call of Duty: Black Ops III gets announced… with soldiers who have robotic limbs… yeah, that's certainly a thing. I won't complain though, I love sci-fi, so I think it looks cool, and I can't wait to play some new official zombies maps.**

**A/N9: At the time of writing this, I have 16 followers on this story and at least one guy who's following me as an author who's not following the story specifically, and that's amazing to me. I never thought I'd have any because I don't consider myself a good writer, so to all of you who are following and/or favorited this, thank you, it means more than you can imagine. I certainly couldn't have imagined it before I started writing.**

**A/N10: Just getting to this point, I broke 100,000 total words by more than a fair amount, and I have 283 pages of just text (Google Docs, Arial 11pt font, double spaced between paragraphs). That's beyond ridiculous to me to think that I did that, and I'm just now finishing the second part of the first arc.**

**A/N11: So, since it's fairly obvious this fic is going to be **_**very **_**long, I'm going to say this now, it's not going to take until the very end for Bumblebee to get going completely.**

**A/N12: So, Illusions are a thing that are very easy to make game/story breakingly powerful, to avoid that, I'm intentionally giving everyone with an Illusion Semblance limitations on what they can do, well I'm giving every Semblance limitations, but illusions especially. I explained a few of them in the chapter, but something else I'm doing is that the larger the illusion and/or the more illusions that are running at once, the more you have to cut corners with it. When Brown Mask had the illusion just covering the town and quarry, it was nearly impossible to break, yes, they'd have been able to exit the area it was covering, but there weren't going to be any locations where you could stand and see the lights marking its edges, whereas the plateau sized crisscrossing hallways needed some corners cut because even if it was less detailed than the town, it was just so much larger than it, and the more detailed illusion covering the Grimm was still going. Another limitation: The illusionist can't actually see their own illusions, they need to mentally keep track of where they are. I showed the first part of this back in Chapter 5 when Amber was fighting, and the Boarbatusks seemed to be attacking nothing. Related: There is a reason why Weiss was able to hop aboard the Giant Armor's sword, but for reasons that won't be explained for a bit.**

**A/N13: So, by sheer coincidence, my original idea for Amber would have actually put her personality as similar to Coco's, but it just happened to change to something else even before I remembered Coco was a character that existed. I kind of wish I'd noticed the similarities sooner. I could have tweaked the timeframe of the flashbacks and had it turn out that Amber was Coco's mother, but oh well, I can work something else out instead.**

** A/N14-P: I reworked the scene with Oobleck and Taiyang because while I was writing the chapter the first time, I just couldn't come up with anything better than I had, and it left me dissatisfied with it. However, in the months gone by, something did work itself out in my mind that I'm actually happy with for the scene. The two versions of the scene are about the same thing, so if you've only read one version of it, you're not missing anything important.**

**A/N15-P: Originally I had this listed as the end of this fic's first story arc, but after some thought, I decided to adjust what I did and didn't consider an arc in my grand plan for this story. Now, this chapter was always planned to be the end of something, and indeed, it is now the end of the second part (of 3) of the first story arc. I don't see myself changing my current arc design, so I will say this, every arc will have 3 parts, so while the first arc may no longer be considered to be over, the new end point is not overly far away.**


	11. Chilly Introductions

**A/N1: It felt good to be writing again. And a LOT has happened since my last chapter went up. The most amazing/insane one probably being same sex marriage being legalized everywhere here in the US. Way to go, we're only ten years behind Canada. But seriously, that's incredible, and coincidentally, the chapter order means this one focuses on a same sex couple. In other, more RT related news, RTX just ended, I couldn't go, but info coming out of it concerning RWBY and this fic below. On another note, RvB13 has been incredible, and every episode leaves me wanting more and more, and holy crap, Episode 16, it's been a week, and I'm still not okay. Unless the rest of the season just completely drops the ball, it's going to usurp the title of my favorite season, heck, I want to call it my favorite season already, but I'm holding back on that until it's all said and done. Also X-Ray and Vav has started its second season, and its second episode just attacks fanfic writers. I'd have been insulted (not really) if it just wasn't so funny, also I'm not a self insert writer. Anyway, before I just type on and on, let's get to the chapter.**

Mizu raised the carbine in her hands and pulled the trigger for a brief moment. It was not her personal weapon, but the design was similar, if less rounded. Below her feet, in the center of the large round room she was standing in, was her family's crest, a wave enveloping the moon. She was clad in the Ao Weapons Company uniform, which consisted of a long sleeved dark blue shirt, also with her family's crest on the center of the back and a matching pair of pants. In addition she was wearing a pair of combat boots. One, two, three, four- the rounds fired out in rapid succession from her brief trigger pull, striking a target near the edge of the room, the first round striking it almost perfectly center in its chest. The moment the first bullet struck the target, it disappeared and a second one appeared to her left. The recoil threatened to rip the gun from her grasp, however Mizu was more practiced in maintaining a steady grip on recoiling munitions than even some of the most experienced soldiers. Despite the short burst, the weapon's report echoed around the hall in which she was standing, and was the reason for the earmuffs she was wearing. In addition, she also wore a pair of glasses designed to keep her eyes protected in the event of a malfunction. If she were honest with herself, it felt strange firing with standard safety precautions again, but it did feel reassuring after her countless bouts against Grimm and other Huntsmen in training.

Before the carbine had even begun resting after the first burst, Mizu aimed it at the second target the moment it entered her vision, and fired again, this second burst consisting of three shots. She repeated this process a number of times, mentally keeping track not of how many targets she shot, but instead of her ammo count. When she knew she was running low on ammo, she let loose one final burst and let the recoil carry the weapon upwards a bit as she quickly pressed the release button, causing the tube below the main body of the weapon to swing outward to the left, allowing the magazine within it to fall to the ground while Mizu grabbed a second one from the bag at her hip. She swung the carbine to point it at the ground as she placed the new magazine within the tube, allowing gravity to carry it the rest of the way in, before swinging the weapon back up in a well practiced motion she used to quickly aim from rest as she pushed the tube back into position so that it was fully loaded. Mizu paused only for a moment before firing off another burst, a distinctive click emanating from the weapon to signal a successful reload just before her finger pulled the trigger.

Mizu couldn't help but smile. Growing up learning the ins and outs of firearms had given her a confidence with them that would have bordered on, if not actually have been, arrogance if she had lacked the skill to back it up. Her aim bordered on uncanny, the only missed shots being ones fired after the initial round in each burst, only caused by the target vanishing, and her control over the recoil made it appear as if there was almost none to all but the most trained of eyes. When no new target appeared, Mizu switched on the carbine's safety with her thumb as she lowered the weapon with her right hand and used her left to remove her earmuffs. Her ears were greeted with rapid applause. Looking up, she saw the crowd of people who had been watching her fire practice, prompting her to bow politely.

"It certainly was impressive," a man's voice echoed out of the speakers in the room. Mizu looked over to her right as she straightened back up to see her father walking towards her. He was tall, not especially so, but would certainly tower over most. His hair was an extremely dark blue, and could easily be mistaken for black under bad lighting, and his eyes were a piercing green that were the same shape and size as Mizu's. He was wearing the company's uniform as well, however, unlike Mizu, he was wearing a normal pair of shoes. "However, my daughter's skills with a weapon were not what you were brought here today for." He stopped next to Mizu, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm proud of you," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth so that the microphone he was wearing wouldn't pick it up as the group of people above them quickly quieted down. Mizu's smile was replaced by a contented grin as her father began to address the group again. "Last year, I brought you here to demonstrate our newest rifle, whose design you might recognize as being similar to this carbine's," he grabbed the weapon from Mizu and held it up for the crowd to see. "There is a reason for this," he said as he began to walk over to the side of the room, Mizu following close behind him. As soon as they stepped off of their family crest, it vanished as the floor revealed itself to be a large screen. "I present to you all, Project Luna."

"Of course he'd name it that," one of the people above whispered, both Aos unable to hear it from where they stood.

"Now, it is no secret that the military is working to replace as many of the soldiers that go into battle with androids as possible, as quickly as possible," Mizu's father continued. "However, hopeful estimates still place that as a decade away. Well, conservative estimates place our new firearm as seeing field testing in only three years." The screen on the floor changed to show two images, one of which was the carbine Mizu had just used, which was labelled as Tui, and the second was a rifle that greatly resembled it, and was labelled as La. "It's true that people are capable of a great many things when situations demand it, but it's also true that having help towards the end you need makes it much easier. The two most used weapon types used by the modern armed services are rifles and carbines," Mizu's father smiled. "We plan to deliver both." On the screen, the rifle vanished, and the carbine grew to occupy the entire screen, with the label changing to read Tsuki. After a moment, the carbine began to change in form, with the barrel extending out somewhat, along with a shift of material around the middle of the weapon that would be used to change the center of gravity on the weapon to complement its new use and length. After only a few seconds, it looked exactly as the rifle that had vanished.

"Inspired by the weapons wielded by the intrepid Huntsmen and Huntresses," he patted Mizu's shoulder, "that fight beyond the walls. We plan to offer a multipurpose munition that can be used properly by our soldiers with only a modicum of extra training. And even if development issues were to arise that wouldn't allow us to get it out before the change in our armed forces, we feel the androids who take to the battlefield in their stead will make excellent use of Project Luna as well." He paused before continuing on, "Prototypes already exist of course, and every day, more issues are ironed out and solved, with the greatest problems have been recently solved. Which is why we felt the time to announce the project had come. In two hours, we will hold a semiprivate dinner where we will discuss the project is greater detail and reveal it to more officials and officers of our armed forces, and one week from today, the project will be announced to the general public in a large gala." Mizu's father bowed, and she bowed as well next to him, causing the gathered crowd to clap politely. As the both of them straightened back up, a door opened up behind them, and the screen on the floor returned to displaying their family crest. Mizu and her father turned around and walked out of the room. "That was a fantastic showing."

"Thanks dad," Mizu said, smiling happily. "I suppose I should go and start getting ready for the dinner."

Her father nodded, "If you see Minato, let him know I need to talk with him after it's over." Mizu nodded, and set off towards the nearest elevator. Stepping into it, she swiped her identification card, lighting every button in the elevator up blue, with the exception of the top floor, which was green, and was the one she pressed. The elevator doors immediately closed and it began rising up to the top floor, not stopping on any of the floors in between until it opened up to a large living room. Mizu stepped out into her family's living area, which was large, open, and decorated extravagantly with numerous ornate and antique paintings and items, but Mizu payed it no mind as she moved through the room to head to her room.

"Oh, hello sweetie," a woman's voice stopped Mizu just outside of her room.

"Oh, hi mom," Mizu turned to look at her mother, who was tall, albeit not as tall as her father, and lean. Her hair greatly resembled her daughter's, but was longer and blonde in color. Her eyes, while black, were larger and more rounded than her daughter's.

"Are you getting ready for tonight?" her mother asked. Her voice was warm and kind, and had an energetic edge to it that never seemed to leave.

"I'm about to start," Mizu shrugged a bit. "I just got back from the presentation."

Her mother smiled more broadly, "That certainly explains the spring in your step. Alright, I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks mom," Mizu smiled as well as she entered her room. Compared to the living room, Mizu's room was spartan, furnished only with a bed, night tables, desk with a computer, curtains covering the window, and a dresser, however, even these made her family's wealth undeniable. Mizu smiled a bit, her room had always been a comfort to her. A place where she could escape from the demands of her life and relax. However, right now, she had to keep focused. She quickly stripped down and took a shower in the connected bathroom, before beginning to dress. Near the end of dressing, her scroll began to ring. Walking over to check it, Mizu couldn't help but smile as she answered. "That's a face that's nice to see again."

"It's good to see you too," Rosa said, smiling back. She was wearing a pair of headphones connected to the terminal she was sitting at. "So, before we do anything else, I have one question, what are you wearing? That thing looks… strange."

Mizu laughed, "I'm kind of wishing you hadn't added that last part, but regardless, I'm preparing for a company dinner tonight, so I need to wear my fancy clothes."

"Oh, so that's your furisode," Rosa replied, her turn to laugh, "I've actually never seen it before, you've always worn dresses at Beacon."

"Yeah, well, it was a nice change," Mizu shrugged before continuing to dress, "but I very much prefer this. Although that just might be because I've grown up wearing these as opposed to dresses. Although I have to admit, dresses are a lot less annoying to put on."

"Is it that bad?" Rosa asked as Mizu struggled with part of the complex outfit.

"It can be kind of a pain at times," Mizu admitted. "Well, to do it correctly, which I am, it is. There are a fair few cheats, but those can damage the outfit, or just look wrong. Honestly, I can easily see why very few families still wear these things and related garments. Anymore I think it's only old traditional families-"

"Like yours," Rosa interrupted to point out.

Mizu laughed, "Yes, like mine, and people who prefer old fashioned clothing. Although a quality one is very expensive to maintain, so even fewer wear them than would prefer."

Rosa nodded, "I've heard that from some people I know around here. Hey, tell me when you're done, I'd like to get a full view of you in it."

"No need to wait," Mizu smiled taking a step back from her scroll and doing a full rotation. "What do you think?"

"You look beautiful," Rosa answered, smiling broadly.

Mizu laughed again, "Thank you, thank you," she bowed in an exaggerated manner, "now give an honest answer."

"I meant it, it looks great," Rosa raised her hands up defensively. "I may be a bit biased, but that's actually how I feel."

"Yeah, I guess asking my girlfriend might not have been the best idea," Mizu laughed again, sitting back down on her bed as she picked the scroll up. "Although it does help the ego a bit."

"Because yours certainly needs a _lot_ of help."

Mizu opened her mouth for a second before shaking her head, "I'm too tired to give that a proper response."

"Has it been that bad?" Rosa asked, her tone instantly changing from snarky to concerned.

"It hasn't been bad, just… busy," Mizu said, thinking back, her facade of energy quickly falling away as a tired expression crossed her face. "I've been bombarded with things I need to do for the company since I got back. Honestly, today was the easiest since I just had to prepare for, and give, a live fire demonstration."

"I'm sure you enjoyed that," Rosa said sincerely.

"Very much," Mizu admitted freely, holding back a yawn as she relaxed.

"How's Barty been?"

Mizu sighed, "Okay, it's been a bit bad, I haven't been able to talk with him all that much since we got back." She shrugged, "Although this is hardly the first time that's happened." Rosa just nodded slowly. "So," Mizu's tone quickly shifted from sounding a little annoyed to curious, "how's life been treating you this last week?"

"I can't really complain," Rosa said sincerely. "I've had nothing but free time. I've been catching up with some old friends that either didn't get into Beacon, or I just couldn't really talk with at Beacon for one reason or another." She laughed a bit, "Sleeping late enough that my mom's had to wake me."

Mizu laughed as well, "I can't wait until I'm in a position to do that again. I miss waking up at noon."

"That early?" Rosa sounded amused.

Mizu raised one of her eyebrows, "Early?" She shook her head, "Never mind, I've got to go, I need to get there early, and there's still a few things I need to do."

"Alright, I'll call tomorrow so we can have a proper chat," Rosa said, moving to end the call.

"I look forward to it," Mizu said, smiling tiredly as the call ended and she sat back up. She sighed as she sat her scroll back down on the bed before standing. She made her way back into the bathroom and put on a small amount of makeup before heading over to her door to put on her footwear before making her way out of her room. When she reentered the living room, she immediately saw her mother as well as her brothers, both of them. "Misuto! I didn't know you were back," she called out in surprise as she ran over and hugged the younger of her two older brothers, happy to see him again.

"It's good to see you too Mizu," Misuto said. His hair was the same color as their father's, and his face heavily resembled his, however his eyes were black. He was only slightly shorter than Mizu, but his shoulders were wide, leaving a far different silhouette than the rest of their family. "Last I saw you, you were still in Vantage."

Mizu laughed happily as she let him go, "Yeah, since you had just joined up after graduating." She laughed again, "I didn't know you were given leave this summer, I thought you had to wait for the fall again."

"I didn't either until just a month ago, although I'm not complaining," Misuto said, stretching a bit.

"So, how's life in the military?" Mizu asked, genuinely curious. "You were stationed in Vacuo right?"

"It's alright," Misuto shrugged. "Surprisingly dad's old stories for what Vacuo's like are still pretty spot on. Beyond that we mostly just stand around and talk. Honestly, I'm curious about what it's like in Vale."

"Hot, apparently," their eldest brother, Minato, spoke up. He looked like their father in almost every way. The only differences being his height and hair, for he was half a head shorter than their father, and his hair was a similar shade of blue to Mizu's, being only slightly lighter.

"I really wouldn't know what that's like," Misuto shook his head.

"It is," Mizu smiled awkwardly, feeling slightly embarrassed, "but I doubt it holds a candle to what Vacuo's like."

Misuto laughed. "Vacuo's weird, during the day it's hot beyond belief, at night it can give here a run for its money. Is Vale like that?"

"No," Mizu shook her head, "at night it's still warm during the summer, spring, and fall. Winter it's cool, but no where close to here."

"Well, Vale's also not a desert," their mother spoke up as their father made his way to join the group.

"Minato, I need to talk with you after this," their father said to him. Minato nodded in acknowledgement, after which their father turned to face the large group. "It's been quite a while since we've had something like this, and I couldn't be happier we have the entire family here for it. Especially after these last few years, it almost feels like a dream to have both Misuto and Mizu here at the same time again." With that, he made his way to the elevator and called it. "I believe all three of you will represent us exceptionally well tonight. 'Speak freely what you believe, and you'll travel the right path.' I'm sure you're all tired of hearing these words, but I feel that they are more than apt for tonight." As he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened, letting the family crowd inside.

The elevator traveled straight down to the first floor of the building, where they stepped out into the lobby. "Well, if it isn't the family everyone's talking about," a voice called out, causing every head in the lobby to turn to face them.

"Well, time to start socializing," Mizu's mother said.

Mizu nodded, and put on a smile that was half genuine, half forced. _I think I'd prefer to be doing whatever it is Rosa's been up to all day._

* * *

Rosa jolted awake due to a slamming sound on her door, quickly followed by her mother's yelling, "Rosa, wake up!"

"Come on, Mom," Rosa said, closing her eyes again as she rolled over in her bed. "It's not like there's anything I need to be doing."

"Rosa, it's 6 in the afternoon, I just got home from work!" her mother said as she slammed against the door one last time.

"Oh, haha, very funny!" Rosa called out as she moved to get comfortable.

"Just look out the window!" her mother yelled again as she shuffled away. Rosa huffed a bit before rolling over and opening her eyes to check. She saw the sun hanging low in the sky as it was close to setting.

"You've got to be kidding…" Rosa said in disbelief. "I slept for 15 hours, really?" she shook her head as she stood up and stretched. The first thing she did was pick up her scroll and check her messages. They were from a number of people, with most of them consisting of messages like:

_Hey where are you?_ An hour ago

_Don't tell me you're still asleep? _Three hours ago

_You're still asleep aren't you? _Also from three hours ago

_Hey, you up yet? _Seven hours ago

Although she had to admit the highlight was _Look, I know staying up for three days wasn't the best idea, but you never ignored me after all my other bad ideas… well after most of them. _From five hours ago. Rosa smiled and sent messages back before grabbing her clothes and changing out of her pink nightgown. Walking back to her scroll, she checked her messages again, and found one new one. _Okay good, you're not ignoring me… again. So, you going to finally tell me about your new girlfriend?_

_Later,_ she typed back, _I'm actually about to go talk with her a bit before meeting up with you and the others._ She walked out of her room and made her way into the kitchen.

"I hate it when you sleep late like that, when did you even go to bed?" her mother asked as she prepared a bowl of cereal.

"I wasn't asleep that long, it was just a nap," Rosa lied. "Or at least it was supposed to be."

"Really?" her mother asked disbelievingly. "And how much longer did you sleep than you planned?"

_About seven hours._ Rosa thought before answering, "Just an hour." Rosa's mother narrowed her eyes before shaking her head and walking out as Rosa's scroll beeped. "Where's Buio?"

"At a friend's house," her mother answered in the hallway.

Rosa nodded as she turned back to her scroll to check the most recent message. _Alright cool… Sooooo, we going for four days this time?_ Rosa just smiled and shook her head.

_Maybe in a few days._

* * *

"Mizu!" her father stopped her. She nodded and walked over to them. "There's someone I think it's time you finally met," her father motioned to the short man next to him. "This is Eis Schnee." He turned to Eis, "Eis, this is my daughter, Mizu."

"Ao Mizu," Eis' eyes studied her face, his cold gaze nearly making her shiver slightly. "I've heard much about you. Especially last year after it came out you had decided to attend Beacon instead of Outlook here in our fair Kingdom."

"Yes, well, Beacon is considered to be the superior academy," Mizu answered coldly. Her father had mentioned Eis on a few occasions, but had never gone into much detail beyond business ventures. She had, however, heard more than enough about his management style from the various White Fang meetings she'd attended with Rosa.

Eis nodded, "That is true, no one seems capable of molding a potential Huntsmen or Huntress quite as well as old Ozpin. I expect your team has visited our Kingdom," he turned to face her father, "Shio?"

Shio shook his head, "No, actually, they haven't. We've made plans to do so on multiple occasions, but life can be busy, the last summer especially so."

"I'm surprised, Luna's always been one to manage to set things like that up, especially when things are busy."

Shio laughed, "Yes, I like to say that's part of the reason I married her. However, unless something comes up, we do have plans for them to visit at the end of the month." He turned towards Mizu, "Nothing's come up, correct?"

Mizu paused for a second before smiling, "I'd have to call them to make sure, but I've heard nothing."

Shio nodded, "Good, good." He turned back to Eis, "So, what do you think of our new design?"

"I think that our new propellant will be a perfect match," Eis smiled, clearly glad to be talking business again.

"Ah yes, the new Fire mixture, that just came across my desk just this morning," Shio said as they walked off. "I have to say, it seems intriguing, but when it comes to minute changes in Dust mixtures, I admit I'm at a lost in how it affects the result. I was actually going to talk with Minato about that tonight, so I'll be better equipped to discuss..." his voice was lost in the crowd as they walked away.

Mizu shook her head, as they walked off. "Eis Schnee put you off?" a man's voice came from behind her. Mizu turned around and saw a tall young man with short blonde hair and brown eyes. "It's okay to admit it, everyone he works with feels he's terrible."

Mizu let out a short emotionless laugh, "It's not him, it's everything I've heard about him… okay it's partially him."

The man laughed, "I can understand that." He extended his hand. "My name is Beige Brenin, and I must say it's an honor to meet _the_ Ao Mizu."

"Pleasure. So, do you work for him?" Mizu asked curiously.

Beige shook his head, "Only if I needed to. No, I'm enlisted in the Navy, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future."

"I don't mean any offense, but what's a soldier doing here?" Mizu asked. "I was under the impression it was only officers and officials that were invited."

Beige laughed, "Fair question, and fair reasoning. One of my wife's coworkers is married to one of your employees, and she invited us to come here as well as their guests. Unfortunately, my wife couldn't come. She actually told me to come without her, and wouldn't accept anything other than a yes."

"Why couldn't she come?" Mizu asked as they began to walk around a bit. "Is she ill?"

Beige laughed again, "No, no, she's very well, although we did think she was sick at first."

"What do you mean?" Mizu asked, looking up at him, feeling confused.

Beige smiled broadly, "She's currently seven months pregnant."

Mizu's eyes widened, "Oh, oh, uh congratulations." Her tone was full of surprise, matching her expression as she stumbled over her words.

"Thank you," Beige said, taking a deep breath. "When we married, I thought we'd have to adopt if we felt ready to have a child, but then this happened, and it's just," he shook his head, smiling broadly, "sometimes things happen that just make you believe in miracles."

"Even more congratulations then," Mizu said, genuinely feeling happy for him. "But, if I may ask, why did you think you had to adopt in the first place?" Beige didn't say anything, instead he took his scroll out of his pocket, and showed her a picture. "A faunus? You're married to a faunus?" Beige nodded, smiling from ear to ear as he put his scroll back away. A thoughtful expression crossed Mizu's face for a moment before speaking up again. "May I ask another question?"

"You may ask as much as you wish. You're one of the important people here after all," Beige pointed out.

Mizu opened her mouth for a second before closing it and nodding. "Right," she said eventually, "anyway, how did you know your wife… how did you know she was the one you wanted to spend your life with?"

"Well," Beige stopped to think before nodding, "we'd already been dating for a few years, and, well, we were just at a restaurant eating dinner. And I… I just felt it hit me. I'd known deep down that I loved her for a while beforehand, but that was just the point when it hit me that I truly, fully, loved her. After that," he shrugged, "it just came naturally. Once I accepted I was in love with her, wanting to spend the rest of my life with her just followed soon after. Of course I had to wait until some anti-faunus laws were struck down, but once they were, I proposed," he laughed a bit, "in the same restaurant I realized I was in love with her at actually." Mizu nodded, a distant look crossing her face. "If _I _may ask, has a faunus attracted the affection of Atlas' most well known heartbreaker?"

"What I…" Mizu begrudgingly nodded her head, "okay, yeah, I've broken up with quite a number of guys. It's just something I wanted to know," Mizu said slyly. "Although my partner at Beacon is a faunus herself, and she is dating a human."

"Then give your partner my regards," Beige said. "I hope she and her boyfriend are happy together."

"Girlfriend," Mizu corrected, smiling.

"Excuse me?"

"Her girlfriend," Mizu smiled broader.

Beige smiled knowingly, "Then I hope that she and her girlfriend," he nodded slightly at her, "are very happy together."

"They are," Mizu answered happily as a voice echoed over the speakers for people to take their seats.

* * *

Rosa walked up and hugged Mizu, who was wearing a large dark blue coat with the hood up, with a pair of matching sweatpants and a small pair of snow boots. "I've missed doing this," she whispered, "among other things." Mizu let go of Rosa after a few moments, and gave her a quick look over. She was practically wearing the same outfit she wore in Vale, although the fabric was noticeably thicker than Mizu's clothes to even the untrained eye, and she was wearing a wool cap over her cat ears.

"I did too," Mizu whispered back. Rosa smiled and nodded before walking over to where Oobleck was standing, giving him a hug as well, although for not as long as she'd hugged Mizu. "It's a shame Amber couldn't come for another week," Mizu said, speaking normally now as Rosa's bags were loaded into a car waiting behind them by the driver.

"Yeah, but it's for family reasons," Rosa said letting Oobleck go. "If my brother was having a kid, I wouldn't have come. I can't blame her for staying with her sister."

"True," Mizu said, looking over at Oobleck, "how is little Coco doing?"

"She's doing fine," he answered, smiling. "Just being a normal infant, sleeping and crying a lot."

Mizu and Rosa both laughed while Mizu gave him a curious look, "You're normally more eloquent than that."

Oobleck bowed his head, an amused expression on his face, "Those are her words, not mine."

"Still," Mizu said, sounding incredibly amused, matching Oobleck's facial expression.

"So, what's the plan?" Rosa asked, looking between the two of them.

Mizu took a deep breath, and turned around. Rosa followed her gaze, and her eyes fell upon the waiting car. "My parents would like to have a nice dinner with you." Rosa nodded, the car was surprisingly nondescript, and she was thankful for that. "Complete with numerous questions, I'm sure." Rosa nodded again.

"Unfortunately, I won't be joining you tonight," Oobleck said apologetically.

Rosa frowned for a moment before nodding, "Alright, see you tomorrow then, Barty." Oobleck nodded, and walked off, at which point, Rosa looked over at Mizu, her eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion. "So, why can't he come with us?"

Mizu sighed, "My parents just want to meet you, being my partner after all, and they've known Barty as long as I have. The original plan _was_ for all four of us, but they changed it when Amber couldn't come at the same time, and pushed it back until she gets here."

Rosa nodded slowly, walking over to the car, "Alright let's head over then." Mizu nodded, as she walked with Rosa over to the car before climbing in, with her partner right behind her. Rosa had to admit, the car was extremely comfortable, and surprisingly spacious. However, it wasn't the inside of the vehicle she was interested in. She spent the entire ride admiring the buildings around the city. "You said the buildings in Atlas dwarfed a lot of Vale's, but I never thought about something like this."

Mizu let out a short laugh, "It depends on how old the building is. Atlas is very big on reconstruction. Other Kingdoms will repurpose old buildings, Atlas just tears them down and builds newer, taller ones."

"And what about here? Are these the newer ones or the older?" Rosa asked, looking away from the buildings for a moment.

"These are newer. The city tends to reconstruct entire districts at a time, this was the last one fully finished. The only buildings that tend to be spared are around the plazas. All the major interkingdom business buildings tend to be left intact around them for longer than most, and the government buildings can't be torn down by law unless necessary."

"So, how old are your family's buildings?"

Mizu smiled a bit, "I honestly don't know, but they're not going to be all that old come the next decade. Just because they tend to be spared more doesn't mean they're left forever, the Schnee buildings are the ones currently being reconstructed. From what I've heard over the last few weeks, the next two options are either around Ao Plaza or in the Central Ring."

"The Central Ring?" Rosa asked.

"The center of the city. It's an unofficial name for the series of major roads that form a large ring that connects to other major roads coming out of the plazas. A lot of the buildings within it tend to be dedicated to various forms of entertainment," Mizu smiled broader, "actually, that's something I should show you. It's a sight to behold at times."

Rosa nodded, "I look forward to it."

"Good," Mizu said, before snorting in laughter. "Sorry, a lot of the business owners there have been approaching my family and our business partners because they want to take over the plaza themselves."

"Okay," Rosa raised one of her eyebrows before laughing herself. "I guess it's my turn to apologize, but I haven't heard you make a sound like that since one guy asked you if you were worried about another company usurping your family's."

Mizu nodded, clearly feeling amused, "Considering the best competitor we have is Heraclean Arms, and they specialize in hunting wildlife, it's a pretty funny idea, especially when it's not suggested in jest." She raised her arms in the air a bit, "But, I can't exactly look down on them either," she admitted, "they undoubtedly make high quality guns. Everything they've produced are fine weapons, that will serve their wielder well if they know what they're doing. I've personally fired a number of them, and their newest shotgun is especially nice, but there's a reason why their guns are cheaper than ours, and it's not manufacturing costs."

"Is there a gun you haven't fired?" Rosa asked. "You know, aside from our classmates'."

Mizu opened her mouth for a moment before closing it, her face quickly turning thoughtful. "I don't think I've fire-, no, no I have fired that," she said, looking to the side. "Um… probably a sniper- no, I've fired that."

Rosa laughed again, "I was partially joking, but somehow this doesn't surprise me."

Mizu shrugged, before laughing herself, "There are actually quite a number I haven't, some of which I would love to give a try at. There's also a lot of our prototypes, the researchers prefer having someone who's expected to be using the designs to test them early on in production."

Rosa nodded as the car came to a stop, having entered a parking garage without her noticing during the end of their conversation. "I guess it's time to get out huh?" Mizu nodded, and the two of them climbed out. After taking a few steps from the car, Rosa stretched a bit, "This chill doesn't agree with me at all."

Mizu laughed, "Now you know how I felt in Vale."

"Yeah, about that, it's weird seeing you covered up so much."

"Honestly, I prefer dressing closer to this, but I felt like I was dying at times in Vale for a long time," Mizu said, beginning to walk away. "Although I could do without the boots, but it snowed recently, and they're still cleaning up some of the streets. Rosa nodded as she followed, the driver climbing out of the car behind them and unloading Rosa's bags. Mizu led Rosa out of the parking garage and out into a large open plaza. Ao Plaza was large, and there was nothing at all in it other than people as there were no roads in the plaza.

"That's a lot of people."

"Yeah, well this is actually the reason why the entertainment people want to be here," Mizu explained. "It's the closest plaza to the harbor, and there's a large concentration of hotels nearby. They say it's a waste of space used as it is, and, honestly, I can kind of see it. There's a lot of foot traffic, for various reasons, and all of the buildings are just for business or living." Rosa nodded as she continued to follow Mizu across the plaza to the building farthest to the south. Mizu stopped in front of it and looked up. "Welcome to the headquarters of the Ao Weapons Company."

"I thought we were going to your home," Rosa looked at Mizu curiously.

Mizu pointed up at the top floor, "We are."

Rosa shook her head, "You know, I knew how much money your family had, but at a number that high, it sort of loses meaning unless you see it in action."

"Honestly, all it does is make it really nice to look at. Unless you're with people you care about, all the money in the world can't make a place better so long as it's already habitable," Mizu said.

"With what I've heard, it must be a pretty nice place to live then," Rosa said.

Mizu smiled back and nodded, and led her inside. Once inside, Mizu pulled down her hood, and was immediately greeted by the woman working the front desk. "Oh, welcome back Miss Ao, is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, thank you, I'm just heading up to the apartment with my friend," Mizu said politely.

"Of course," the woman said professionally, as she returned to her computer screen. Mizu and Rosa walked over to the elevator and called it. Once the doors opened, a number of workers spilled out, a few of them giving polite greetings to Mizu before the two young women stepped into the elevator themselves, where Mizu swiped her ID and selected the top floor.

"Immediate service," Rosa noted once the doors closed.

"Yeah, I just wish I remembered her name," Mizu said, feeling embarrassed. "She was just hired a few days ago, and I keep having to stop myself from saying her predecessor's name. Which is bad since the last person to work that desk was a guy."

"At least you're making the effort," Rosa said stifling a laugh. "So, care to explain what the card was for?"

Mizu nodded, "You're only allowed in any of the upper floors if you're an employee, a member of my family, or are accompanied by one of the above. As a member of the family, and being of age, I can head to any floor I want to without restriction. The green light means that the elevator won't stop on any floors along the way."

"Don't want employees getting in uninvited?" Rosa teased.

"Not after some of my mom's things were stolen a few years back, no," Mizu answered back seriously.

Rosa nodded slowly as the doors opened, "Yeah, once I said it, something like that crossed my mind."

"Ah, good, you're back," Luna said happily seeing Mizu and Rosa step out of the elevator.

Mizu nodded, "Yes mom," she motioned to her left, "and this is my partner, Rosa."

Luna walked over and held out her hand to Rosa, who shook it, "My name is Ao Luna, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Rosa smiled politely, "Same here," she said before laughing a bit. "Sorry, it's, it's just that a, uh, a few years ago, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be somewhere like here right now."

Luna smiled back comfortingly, "It's alright. Feel free to make yourself at home. A friend of Mizu's is always welcome here."

"Thank you," Rosa said, taking off her cap, and moving her cat ears around a bit after having them pressed down under it for the last few hours. Luna's eyes flicked to Rosa's ears for a moment before moving back to her face. "Where will I be sleeping?"

"Well, we have a-"

"My room," Mizu cut in.

"Oh, are you sure? I know you prefer having your privacy," her mother asked unsure.

"Yes, we've shared a room for four semesters. I think another month will be fine," Mizu answered back, trying not to smile. "And my room is more than large enough."

Luna nodded, "Okay, then the two of you can head there now if you want, I'll get some things ready."

Mizu nodded, "Thank you," she turned to Rosa, "let's go." Rosa nodded, and followed Mizu through the living room and down a small hall and into Mizu's room.

"This room certainly is decently large," Rosa said looking around as Mizu closed the door behind them.

"That's true," Mizu said, walking over to, and sitting down on her bed.

"I expected your room to be more… decorated," Rosa said, sitting down next to her.

Mizu laughed, "I certainly took more interest in decorating our dorm room, but that's because I usually only come here for some privacy, I spend most of my time in the common areas, whereas we were in our dorm a lot. So, what do you think?"

Rosa smiled, interlinking her fingers with Mizu's. "I think I want to kiss my girlfriend for the first time in over a month." Mizu returned the smile, and obliged. The two of them sat there for several minutes before a knock came at the door, causing them to break apart. "It's a good thing neither of us wear lipstick," Rosa whispered as Mizu made her way over to the door.

"Thanks mom," Mizu said, taking a step away from the door, a number of things in her arms that she carried over to the corner and set down. "Well, here's your futon. Technically it's not supposed to go on this type of flooring," she indicated the carpet, "but it's alright. Anyway, now that we got that out of our system, what next?"

"How long until dinner?"

Mizu shrugged, "About an hour."

"What can you show me of the rest of the building without getting in trouble?" Rosa asked.

"Let's find out," Mizu answered mischievously, before nodding towards the door. "Also, your bags are just outside."

* * *

"Ah, just in time," Luna said as Shio walked into the kitchen. "I've got some onions that need to be cut up." Shio nodded, and began helping out. "Have you heard anything about Mizu or Rosa? Mizu apparently decided to show Rosa some of the building."

"I haven't," Shio answered, continuing to cut.

"That's good, I remember when Misuto showed it to some of his friends a few years back," Luna shook her head. "And Minato before him."

Shio laughed, "I seem to remember that same thing happening when I showed you part of the company back when we had started dating. I got into the exact same trouble the boys did."

Luna sighed, "I know, which is why I can't get mad, I just wish our kids had proven to be a bit more sensible."

"Yes, well, Mizu's more sensible than her brothers," Shio pointed out, as he handed over the onions.

"I know," Luna said, finishing the salad. "And with her choice of career, I'm glad, it'll take her far," she sighed, "but I still worry about her."

Shio nodded, "So do I, especially considering-" from the living room, the sound of two girls giggling reached them, "and it sounds like they're back just in time."

Luna walked out of the kitchen, and called out to them, "Hey, girls, dinner's going to be ready in few minutes."

"Okay, mom," Mizu called back. Several minutes later, the four of them were gathered at the table. The dining room, and the table within it, was large and long, and the chairs set around it were intricately designed, yet surprisingly comfortable. One wall of the room, which Mizu and Rosa were facing, was nothing but floor to ceiling windows that gave a clear view of the plaza. "So, are Misuto and Minato not going to be here?"

"Not today," Shio answered, before looking over at Rosa. "And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is Ao Shio."

"It's an honor to meet you," Rosa said politely as she followed the lead of the others and prepared to eat.

"So, what do you think of Atlas so far?" Shio asked before taking his first bite.

"The buildings are very beautiful," Rosa said, looking out the window in the dining room to see the skyline. "I haven't had a chance to actually experience any of it yet, though. But it seems like it would be a little overwhelming. I grew up in an area of Vale where the surrounding buildings were all only one or two stories and residential. This," she shook her head, "the smallest buildings I can see dwarf most of the tallest in Vale."

Luna smiled warmly, "I'm sure it won't be all that overwhelming. The buildings may be large, but everything to do is right at street level, and you'll have Mizu to help you, and I doubt Bartholomew is going to be unwilling to help."

"Thank you," Rosa said, beginning to eat as well. The conversation was mostly trivial as they slowly made their way through their salads before moving on to the main course. "This is delicious," Rosa said after having taken a bite.

"Thank you," Luna said. "Mizu told me some of the things you like to eat, and I know a large number of fish recipes. Although, I have to admit, it sounded a little…" she paused awkwardly.

"Stereotypical?" Rosa finished.

"Yes," Luna laughed a bit, sounding nervous. "I'm sorry if that's a little offensive."

Rosa shook her head, letting out a short laugh, "There are a lot of stereotypical things associated with various faunus, but food preferences aren't really most of the time."

"I think I'm going to still be a little cautious about that," Luna said.

Rosa nodded slowly, "That might be a good idea."

"So, what made you decide to become a Huntress?" Shio asked.

"Oh, well, when my father was still alive, he'd tell me and my brother a number of stories, and the ones that I was always drawn to were his stories of the various Huntsmen he'd met," Rosa looked to the side, remembering, a nostalgic look on her face for a moment before she looked back at Mizu's parents. "Sorry," Shio waved it off, letting her continue, "uh, anyway one day I just told him that I wanted to be a Huntress like the people he'd met, and he and my mom supported me all the way."

"And how's the experience been so far?"

"It's been difficult, but rewarding," Rosa said honestly. "And extremely busy. A big part of the difficulty starting at Beacon was figuring out how to manage my time, because actual guaranteed downtime was few and far between."

Luna nodded, "Mizu told us the same thing after your first semester."

"Only because it's true," Mizu pointed out.

Luna nodded, "Taking a break from work is necessary from time to time. Doing nothing but working is unhealthy, something I need to remind Shio from time to time." Shio just bowed his head, and continued eating, making all three women laugh. "Friends and family can really help make a bad situation better. How often would you visit your family while at Beacon?"

"Around once a month," Rosa said. "Sometimes more, sometimes less."

Luna nodded, "Sometimes I wish we could just head down to Vale and visit, but that's not really an option."

Rosa smiled, "With how quickly I start to get homesick at times, I can understand that." Luna nodded, and the conversation continued on.

"Well, I guess it's time to address the Goliath in the room," Shio said, glancing between his daughter and wife as they began their dessert.

Luna nodded slowly before sighing, "We probably should have brought it up sooner so this didn't end on quite a low note."

"Um... what?" Rosa looked between the two of them.

Mizu sighed, almost perfectly mirroring her mother's posture when she did, "They're talking about my depression."

"Oh," Rosa said, looking back at Mizu's parents.

"Oh thank God you know," Shio laughed nervously.

"You've been through this before?" Rosa looked back at Mizu.

"Yeah, well, it's not exactly something I bring up all that often in random conversation," the blue haired girl shrugged before looking back at her parents. "And yeah, she knows, as does Amber, they found out after our first mission together."

"Well, I think Amber actually learned during the mission," Rosa corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, she did. I was stressed and Barty was afraid it might trigger one of my episodes."

"Did it?" Luna asked, sounding concerned.

"No!" Mizu hastily said. "Sorry, I guess I should have added that, no it was, it was just stress."

"Yeah, I, uh, I can confirm that," Rosa said awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for dragging the conversation down right at the end," Luna said.

"No, no, that's not it," Rosa stopped. "This is just something that I've dealt with before. Both my mother and grandfather have had to deal with it, so I'm considered at risk for it myself."

"Oh..." Luna said dumbfounded.

"Yeah, that got brought up after our first mission too," Mizu said, resting her head on her hand.

Rosa let out a short laugh, "Yeah, that was an interesting day, but yeah, my mom had it bad after my dad died, but thankfully her job got her medication and therapy to get her past it, and she's been fine since."

"That's good," Shio said.

"Yeah, I don't really think this is a good place to end things," Mizu said, beginning to eat again.

Luna nodded, "You're right, dear. She turned back to face Rosa, "So, do you have a boyfriend?"

Mizu nearly choked on her food, "Really? You're asking my friends that now too?"

"Well, you did want to change the topic, and your answer has been consistently no recently, so I thought I'd ask," Luna said, her tone making Mizu shake her head. "Unless it's changed over the last few days."

Mizu sighed, "No, I don't have a boyfriend."

Luna nodded, looking over at Rosa. "I don't either," she answered, "I've actually never had a boyfriend."

"I find that hard to believe, you're very beautiful," Luna said, making Mizu stifle a laugh. "Did I say something funny?" she asked, turning towards her daughter, feeling aghast at the reaction. Rosa also looked at her as well, feeling unsure.

"Go ahead and tell them that much at least," Mizu muttered.

Rosa nodded and turned back towards Mizu's parents who were looking at the two of them, curiosity overcoming their reaction to Mizu's laugh. "I've never had a boyfriend because, well... I'm gay. I've never been interested in boys."

"Oh, I'm sorry I implied…" Luna trailed off again.

"It's alright," Rosa said trying not to laugh, "it's a common thing." She shrugged, "I can't really blame anyone for it either."

Luna nodded slowly, "Is this something that comes up in conversation often?"

"No," Rosa said honestly. "I don't hide it, so most of my friends are aware of it, but because it doesn't come up often, there have been a few times where some people didn't realize it for a while."

"Like us," Mizu reminded her.

"Oh," Rosa laughed, "yeah, no one on the team realized before I outright said it to Amber. We were, uh, we were so focused on other things, dating wasn't a topic of discussion at all for a long time."

"Well, I've always known Mizu wasn't the most observant person," Shio said in a sarcastic tone that still managed to convey its affectionate intent. Mizu just shook her head.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" Luna asked, trying not to laugh.

"I do actually," Rosa said, smiling as Mizu looked at her plate and continued eating, neither of her parents noticing.

"So, what's she like?" Luna asked innocently.

"Oh, she's great, I couldn't ask to be with someone better," Rosa said joyously. "Although she really does have a tendency to miss some obvious things."

"Is there a story behind this?" Luna asked, curious.

"Well, she's bisexual, but didn't realize it until she was seventeen," Rosa said as Mizu fought desperately not to blush.

"I'm sorry? How could she not notice something like that?" Shio asked.

"Well, she's far more interested in guys than she is in girls," Rosa shrugged. "She just didn't realize her feelings for some of the girls she'd known throughout her life were romantic instead of just very friendly until… well until I asked her out."

"That's certainly something I never thought I'd hear," Luna admitted. "Well, I think we're done here, goodnight girls."

"Goodnight mom," Mizu said as she stood, thankful the conversation was over.

"Goodnight Missus Ao, Mister Ao," Rosa said, following Mizu, who closed the door behind them.

"So, I just want to say thank you for explaining my sexuality to my parents," Mizu said, shaking her head a bit.

Rosa laughed, "Well, I made it easier for you should you ever tell them about us."

"I guess that's helpful." She took a deep breath, "It's actually something I've been trying to figure out for a little while now," Mizu said, sitting down on her bed.

"You- you have?" Rosa asked, partially in disbelief, partially in joy.

"Yeah," Mizu sighed, "but I've had trouble. My parents are understanding people, but I've always had a hard time talking with them about, well about my dating life."

"I'm guessing that's what where your mom asking about if you, or I guess me this time, have a boyfriend came from," Rosa said, sitting down next to Mizu.

Mizu shrugged, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, regardless, it was nice meeting your parents. Now just your brothers right?"

Mizu laughed, "Yeah, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Most of them would like to meet you."

Rosa let out a short laugh, "I'll be honest, I didn't think about anyone outside of your immediate family."

Mizu shrugged, "No one does. We're a large family, but outside of me, my parents and siblings, most people dismiss the rest. The branches don't matter as much."

"I'm sure you're perfectly fine with that," Rosa sounded amused.

"Considering I'm more than likely going to be a part of one of those branches, yeah. As soon as either one of my brothers take over, I'm less important. I love my dad, but I honestly can't wait for the day to come he steps down so I'm not in the limelight so much."

Rosa nodded, before yawning. "It's getting late, should we set up the futon?"

"If you want," Mizu said, looking at the floor.

"You don't want to?" Rosa asked, looking at her curiously as she stood back up.

"Well," Mizu smiled a bit, her face turning a light red. "I was uh, I was hoping we could share my bed." Her face turned darker and darker red as she said the rest.

"I- what if your parents came in?" Rosa asked.

Mizu laughed nervously, "Well, I'm glad that wasn't a no." She motioned towards the door, "And that is locked, and is normally." She shrugged, "It's something I do habitually, and my parents are used to it, so that's not a worry." Rosa nodded, but neither of them said anything for a short while, "So, do you, uh, do you want to share my bed?"

Rosa sat back down, smiling, "Of course I would."

Mizu smiled broadly and lay down on the bed for a moment before sighing, "I should probably take a shower."

Rosa laughed as she lay down next to Mizu and moved in close, "I think that can wait."

"You're probably right," Mizu put her arm around Rosa and pulled her even closer. "I could lie here like this forever."

Rosa rolled onto her side, and kissed Mizu's cheek before resting her head on Mizu's shoulder, "I could too, but unfortunately life demands we do more."

Mizu let out a short emotionless laugh, "If only I had no idea what you meant." She took a deep breath. Rosa closed her eyes, relaxing in Mizu's arm, and the both of them lay there for several minutes.

"Hey," Rosa spoke up, shifting a bit. "Mizu, I, uh, I…" she trailed off.

"What is it?" Mizu looked over at her, curious.

Rosa opened her mouth for a few moments, before shaking her head, "It's nothing."

"You're sure?" Mizu asked, not convinced in the slightest.

"Yeah…"

* * *

Rosa shifted a bit in the bed, her eyes remaining closed after having woken up randomly in the middle of the night. She began to roll over, but was stopped by Mizu's body as the other woman slept on. Rosa shifted a bit before finally rolling over completely, and, after a moment, opened her eyes. Mizu was lying on her back next to her, wearing her black, silk nightgown, which contrasted heavily with Rosa's own pink cloth one. There was just enough light in the room for Rosa to make out Mizu's face in her sleep. Her face was calm, almost serene, and Rosa leaned over to kiss the blue haired woman's cheek before sitting up in bed and stretching a bit. A quick look at the clock told her it was three in the morning, prompting her to sigh. Giving up on sleep, at least for now, she shifted around on the bed.

Shifting her legs off the bed, she stood and walked over to the window in the room, and pulled one of the curtains to the side to look outside. Mizu's room had a height advantage over the closest buildings, but a number in the distance stood out above them, affording her a view of their sides, which were all lit up. Most of them were lit in a whitish yellow, however some of the windows were lit up other colors, and one of the buildings was completely dark save one window lit up purple. Closing the curtains again, Rosa exited the room, and made her way down the hallway, through the living room, and into the kitchen. Yawning a bit, but still feeling restless, she poured herself a glass of water and walked into the dining room. Setting the water on the table, Rosa walked over to look out the windows. The view in the dining room had been incredible during dinner, but now, it was breathtaking. Ao Plaza, being composed entirely of large business buildings, was entirely lit. Rosa stood there and stared out at the view for several minutes before she heard a faint noise behind her that she almost missed. Turning, she saw Mizu standing in the shadowed doorway. "I guess I wasn't the only one to wake up."

"How did you even, right," Mizu shook her head, "the hearing and the eyesight." Rosa nodded, smiling a bit as she looked back out the windows. "You really like that view, don't you?" Mizu asked, already knowing the answer.

"I do, the closest you get to a view like this in Vale is in a CCT, but the buildings in Vale aren't so close together, and the distant view from Beacon is beautiful, but it's nothing like this, not even close."

Mizu's arms wrapped around Rosa's stomach, and she set her chin on the girl's shoulder, "If you like this, you should see the Inner Circle. It's nothing but different colors everywhere you look. It's absolutely gorgeous, especially when it snows."

"What's so special about the snow?" Rosa asked, her mind immediately thinking of the cold.

"The light- you know what, you'll see," Mizu smiled. "Unfortunately there's only like a five percent chance of snow tomorrow."

Rosa smiled, her tone sounding incredibly amused, "So you're saying there's a chance."

Mizu laughed, "Yes, there's definitely a chance."

Rosa nodded, "Then I can't wait to see it."

"That's good," Mizu kissed Rosa's cheek. "Now, come on, we should head back to bed." Rosa nodded slowly, but neither of them moved for a small while longer.

"Mizu…" Rosa started up, before shaking her head.

"What is it?" Mizu asked playfully, tightening her arms around Rosa's waist slightly. However, Rosa didn't say anything. "You started this up earlier," Mizu said, her tone turning curious, "what is it?" Rosa sighed, and pulled Mizu's arms off of her. "What's wrong?"

"We've..." Rosa took a deep breath, "we've been together for over a year now, but we've never really discussed your depression.

Mizu looked to the side, "You're right." She walked over to the table, and grabbed one of the chairs, turning it around and sitting in it. Mizu then looked up at her girlfriend and sighed, "What do you want to know?"

Rosa closed her eyes, forcing herself to continue the topic after having finally breached it. "When was the last time you had one of your episodes?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Mizu admitted, looking at the floor. "I've had a few low periods that might count, some of them after we met, but the last time I was actually bad enough to take antidepressants and head back to therapy was a few years ago. How long goes between them varies, but a few years is about average."

Rosa nodded slowly. "And have you ever..." she stopped talking, unable to get it out.

"What?" Mizu asked. "Hurt myself? There's a reason why there's nothing sharp in my room that can be used easily. I've no scars for that reason, but that never stopped me. I've found some terrible uses for ice." Rosa spun around quickly to face her, looking horrified. "And before you ask, yes, I've thought of going further. I've no control over my antidepressants unless I can't rely on someone else. Here, my parents keep them, at Beacon, Barty does. I don't know where they hide them, but I'm glad I don't. I don't know what I might do if I knew at a bad time. But, that being said, I've only ever thought of killing myself, I've never attempted it."

Rosa pursed her lips, and walked up to Mizu. Taking a seat to the right of her girlfriend, Rosa spoke slowly, sadness clear in her voice. "I'm guessing Barty already knows all of this."

Mizu nodded, "Yeah... he's seen me at my absolute worst, and he's helped me out of it every time."

"Well, if you hit that point again, I'll be there for you."

"_When _I hit that point again, I know you will," Mizu said as Rosa clasped her hands over Mizu's right hand. "And I hope, I desperately hope, that you never feel what it's like."

Rosa smiled weakly, "I know that if I do, you'll be there for me."

"Of course," Mizu smiled at her, warmth returning to her expression and voice, before she laughed weakly. "And now you know everything screwed up with my head."

"I know that," Rosa smiled back at her, "and I confirmed something else."

"What? That I'm a mess?" Mizu asked, looking out the windows.

"No," Rosa said, "I know that despite everything wrong with you, I love you."

Mizu looked at the pink haired girl in disbelief, "W-what?"

Rosa leaned in and kissed her, putting all her passion behind it. When they broke apart, Rosa stared in Mizu's eyes. "I love you, Mizu."

Mizu's surprised expression gradually shifted to one of pure joy, "I-" she laughed weakly, "I- Rosa, I love you too."

* * *

"Welcome to the Central Ring," Mizu said happily, spreading her arms wide. "It's not quite night yet, but we can pretty easily waste time until it is."

"Waste time doing what, exactly?" Rosa asked, trying not to laugh when Mizu was pushed to the side by someone who wasn't paying attention.

"We're going to call Amber first. There's a CCT farther in the ring," Oobleck said, walking up as Mizu laughed. "Been awhile since that's happened."

"That's what I was thinking," Mizu said, regaining her composure. "This is why I love getting a brand new outfit like this, people don't know who I am until they get a good look at my face."

"Isn't it really early in the morning in Mistral right now?" Rosa asked as Mizu slowly stopped laughing gleefully.

"It is," Oobleck confirmed. "But she said she was up around this time anyway because of Coco."

Rosa nodded slowly, rubbing her gloved hands together, "So, how far is 'farther in'?"

"Not very," Oobleck said, leading the way alongside Mizu. The three of them walked a little more than two blocks from where they'd entered the area before walking down a side street, coming out right in front of the tower. "We'd like to use a terminal to call a residence in Mistral," Oobleck said at the reception.

"Far to the left, I'll patch you through," the receptionist told him, not looking up from her desk. The three of them nodded, and made their way over to the terminal, Oobleck quickly entering Amber's number, the other two standing behind him. Nearly a minute passed before an answer came through.

"Oh, hi Barty," Amber said, looking tired, before nodding to the others, "looks like you're all there."

"We are," Rosa said, smiling at her. "How've things been there?"

"Oh," Amber sighed, "very busy." She shook her head, "You're told caring for a baby is tiring, but no matter how exaggerated the stories may seem, it's worse."

"So how is Coco doing?" Mizu asked.

"Do you want to see her?" Amber asked, looking up from her scroll. "Because I can just show you."

"Sure," Mizu answered, Rosa nodding along while Oobleck didn't respond. Amber nodded as well, and stood up to walk into another room and holding her scroll out over a crib, the camera pointing down into it. A sleeping baby with brown hair was lying in it. After a few moments, Amber pulled the scroll away and exited the room.

"She's adorable," Rosa said as Amber's face reentered the frame.

Amber nodded, "She is, and she's very active for an infant."

"What's her family name," Mizu asked, "I don't think you've ever told us what your brother-in-law's name is?"

"Adel," Amber answered, sitting back down. "It's nice talking to you guys again, but I need some sleep."

"I guess you were woken up early," Mizu said.

Amber laughed, "I wish, but no, I haven't slept yet. I'll talk to you guys some other time, hopefully before I get there."

"Alright," Oobleck said, as Mizu and Rosa waved. Amber nodded and ended the call.

"So, the sun was setting when we came in," Rosa said, looking up out the window, "looks like it's done now."

Mizu shook her head, "Let's head outside." Oobleck stifled a laugh, and nodded. The three of them made their way out of the building. The sun hadn't fully set, but the street was more than dark enough for the lights from the buildings to be the only thing lighting it up enough for Oobleck and Mizu to see. However, after a few minutes, the darkening street began to come to life. Almost every building was adorned with numerous signs and screens that had been unimpressive and unimposing during the day. Now, one by one, they were lighting up with a variety of vibrant colors in various hues that bathed the street in their glow. The CCT itself, lacking any signs, instead was lit up a bright yellow. "By the time the sun sets entirely, the entire Central Ring is lit up like this," Mizu said, looking over at Rosa. Rosa, however, didn't return the gaze, not that Mizu had expected her to. Instead, she was looking around the street, taking in the sights.

"Come on," Oobleck said. "Central Square's not too far from here."

"Central Square?" Rosa asked as they made their way down the street.

"The Central Ring has a few open areas," Mizu explained. "None of them are anywhere near the size of the main plazas, but they can be decently large. Central's the largest of them." Rosa nodded a bit and they continued on until they came out to a large open square. There were numerous screens on each building surrounding the square, and each was lit up brightly. "Hang on," Mizu said suddenly after they had taken a few steps into Central Square, "there's something I want to go check on." Before Rosa could say anything, she had run off. Oobleck hadn't even bothered trying to say anything, instead just shaking his head, looking somewhat amused.

"That's different," Rosa said seeing Mizu disappear into the crowd.

"Not really," Oobleck shrugged. "She actually does that quite a bit."

"I've never seen her do that before," Rosa said, looking up at him, still feeling confused. "I mean, she'd run off at Beacon occasionally, but not so suddenly."

Oobleck laughed, "Well, she didn't do it all that often in Vale, but once she gets to know an area, she starts it up, and when it's somewhere she knows like the back of her hand, it's all the time."

"Okaaaay," Rosa shook her head. "That's something I'd expect from you. So, how long's she gone for normally?"

"It depends on how far she's going. But generally it's just a few minutes," Oobleck shrugged, beginning to walk a short ways away.

Rosa followed him, "Okay then, and suddenly the fact that you've been friends for so long makes even more sense." Oobleck laughed again, with Rosa joining in after a bit as they stopped at, and sat on, an empty bench nearby where Mizu had left them. "I don't think I've ever actually heard the story of how the two of you met, just that you both were really young, and that you've been there for her when she gets depressed."

Oobleck shrugged, "Well, that's probably because neither of us remember it. My parents are employees at her family's company and have slightly more than just a professional relationship with hers. One day they found out that they had kids that were the same age and they had us meet. We've been friends since, for better or worse."

"Aw, and people say playdates don't work," Rosa teased. Oobleck just shook his head again. "Hey, I think that's great. I mean I knew you met when you were young, but I didn't quite expect_ that _young, it's no wonder that you're so close."

"Yeah, but it's annoying when people assume we're dating," Mizu said from behind them. Rosa jumped a bit, but Oobleck just turned around to glance at her as she walked around the bench.

"I, uh, I know that's happened a few times at Beacon, but how often does it happen normally?" Rosa asked, quickly regaining her composure.

"Way too often," Mizu shook her head as she sat down on the bench between them. "It's weird, almost as, no just as if they'd asked if I was dating either of my brothers."

"The only ones who haven't asked at least once are our parents," Oobleck added, his expression clearly showing he felt the same way.

"I guess if they don't know the two of you all that well, I can see where they'd be coming from," Rosa said. "Anyway, what'd you run off for?"

"I just wanted to make sure of a few things."

"Look at you being cryptic," Rosa shook her head, "I shouldn't even bother asking for more info, should I?"

"Not until whatever it was she was doing has started," Oobleck answered, stretching out a bit.

Mizu smiled in response before adding to the answer. "Don't worry, it'll be clear soon." Rosa just sighed and nodded before looking up at the buildings. "This square has the most advertising per square foot in the world, companies pay a _lot_ of money to get space here, and that's just for one day."

Rosa nodded a bit as she saw the first flake of snow begin to fall, with more following closely behind it. She looked at Mizu curiously, "You can't have planned this."

Mizu laughed, "No, you're right, I couldn't have planned it, but I _could_ have checked on a very up to date weather forecast." Rosa smiled before looking up again to see the snow fall. Mizu put her hand on the top of her head, and pushed it down enough to look at the lit up buildings as opposed to the sky. The light of each of the signs caused the falling flakes to sparkle numerous colors, and Rosa's mouth fell open a bit. "I told you it was beautiful."

"I've seen this a few times in Vale, but not to this extent, and they were all just one color." Rosa said, shivering a bit. Mizu nodded, putting her arm around her, and pulling her close. Rosa shifted closer and whispered, "I imagine Ao Plaza is like that too," Mizu nodded as she pulled Oobleck closer to her as well. He didn't resist, and shifted closer as well. Rosa smiled even broader as something came to her mind, "Just imagining Ao Plaza lit up like this makes me wish your family and the others would go on and sell their buildings there."

Mizu laughed a bit as the three of them sat there watching the glittering snow fall, "I'd love to see that too."

**A/N2: I'm not going to jump straight into writing Chapter 12 (see below), but I'm probably not going to wait all that long to start. Regardless of how long it takes though, next time we'll be back to Team RWBY in the presenture (present/future, trust me it makes sense) to see what they will be getting up to.**

**A/N3: So, RTX, just RTX. I wish I could have gone, I really do, but thankfully the panels were being livestreamed. And I just want to say, having Monty's brother voice Ren is amazing, and I think was the best thing they could have done, and the VAs for Qrow and Winter, can't really say anything bad about them, they're both great, just wish I could hear them in the roles already. Beyond that, the question is, how will it affect this fic? It's not, at least not in a really important way. Not surprising really, but new characters introduced may make their way in here later on, but that's far from an unheard of idea. Same goes with the events of the Volume being referenced so long as they don't contradict what I've established.**

**A/N4: Now, we did get confirmation on something that had it come earlier, could have changed the way some things in the story turned out, and that is the fact that Winter is Weiss' older sister. The thought that she'd be older had crossed my mind before I'd started writing her in, and, honestly, I do think it makes more sense given the fact that she was at the company when Weiss called, but since it wasn't confirmed, I went with something that would be… easier to write in the long term, and for that reason, I'm going to continue on with what I have, for the most part. I've decided that I am going to change Winter's age, but not to fit the released artwork because she looks like she's in her mid twenties in that, and I'm not making her older than Weiss. Instead, I'm just going to make her a year older than she already is in the fic, and I'm going to go back and edit the last few chapters because of that, because I have no plans for a year's worth of time skipping, whether it be all at once, or added up in the near future. A year could be reached… eventually, but certainly not soon enough for what I need Winter to be doing. Now, for what she's like personality wise in the actual show, that is something I'd actually like to use if I can. That being said, a complete personality overhaul is more than likely not going to happen, because Weiss didn't want to talk to her in Volume 2 for a reason, but if I can work in parts of it, I'd happily go back and rewrite some of her parts farther down. Speaking of rewrites, I am going to rewrite her description to sound like a younger version of her official design, and I do actually have a way to make use of her full official design at least once in the next few chapters.**

**A/N5: Qrow's appearing finally! Yay! And I can easily rewrite the descriptions of him to match the art shown. Personality and age wise, he's far more open to rewrite compared to Winter since I haven't done all that much with him and his team yet. Although that's unlikely, given that the only people so far with explicitly stated ages are the students. As for other characters who have yet to be fully introduced (looking at you Raven, Sage, Scarlet, and whatever Eis' real name is), those are up in the air, very much so depending on how much gets written before they actually get around to being more than protecting Yang/set pieces/unseen racist, but as it stands, what they've already done won't be changing, or at least not all that much. There's still time for them to show up and be rewritten to at least somewhat get closer to having, or, hopefully, actually have, their canon personalities. Also, still waiting to find out what Velvet's weapon is, I left that out of the last chapter intentionally. You can bet I'll be waiting every Thursday (or if they continue what they're doing with RvB and X-Ray and Vav, Wednesday) for the newest episodes to come out as soon as it starts airing again.**

**A/N6: So, flashback chapters focus on more than just the important character. They can also focus on introducing things that will become important later on that may only be indirectly connected to the focus character. And seeing as how Mizu is/was, wow, I don't know which tense to use since this isn't present day… wow, normally only time travelers get into this problem, kind of impressive actually. So, um... I'm going to go with present tense to refer to events in the chapter that note is put on, then use either past/future tense to refer to other chapters depending on when they take place relative to the current chapter. Anyway, so seeing as how Mizu is an heiress to her family's company, she gets up to a lot of things and can meet a lot of people. And as for what's going to become important: Well that would be spoiling, although some of it's definitely obvious.**

**A/N7: So, I've found that, as a girl's name, I've fallen in love with Mizu. It's just the Japanese word for water, but I just find it very appealing sounding, and I'm definitely going to be using it more in the future, whether it be other fics, or just other things I do in general. I can't exactly say it's strange since I'm a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, and two of the main characters there have names that mean sky (Sora) and land (Riku)... and now I'm just sitting here wishing Kairi (nautical mile) had been named Mizu… which is a little sad, because I like Kairi's name… and the Oathkeeper, I love the Oathkeeper, if it's not in 3, I will riot.**

**A/N8: So, Luna's name is the only one in the Ao family that's not Japanese nor a form of water. I did that because she's married into the family, but the Moon has an effect over the oceans, so it's still somewhat related. Also, every character's basis in the family is Moon related, so there's yet another connection, although, again Luna's is different from the rest.**

**A/N9: So, the last thing in the chapter was very much taken from Xenoblade. My two favorite areas in the game aesthetically are Satorl Marsh and Valak Mountain, at least as far as I've played, and I think both of them are dull and uninteresting during the day, but they're absolutely gorgeous at night. I want to play more, but life just gets in the way. I'm all set to move beyond Valak, but I just need time to play for hours on end again and binge (screw safety warnings, I'm staring at a computer screen almost all day anyway), and will probably be what I do during my next extended break instead of alternating between short sessions of other games and writing, although my rewrites get priority.**

**A/N10: So, I mentioned last chapter that I regretted not having Amber be Coco's mother. Well, making her Coco's aunt works just fine for me. I am not going back to change timeframes, because that would be a larger endeavor than you'd expect.**

**A/N11: If you get the purple lighting thing, yes.**


	12. Red Like Roses

**A/N1: Well, this is a chapter I've been waiting to write since day 1, and with that I want to say that if-when you get confused, I'm not sorry.**

A little girl ran out several feet from the entrance to the Vale docks. Her hair was black, although it shifted into a dark red at its tips, a stark contrast to her pale skin. Her outfit likewise consisted of those colors, with a black skirt and shoes alongside a dark red sleeveless jacket and cape worn over a sleeveless white shirt. The girl's silver eyes danced over the buildings and people in front of her, taking in the sights as excitement coursed through her body.

"Ruby, don't run off," her father's voice came from behind her. Not that he'd needed to tell her, she'd had no plans of running off anyway.

"There's so many people here Daddy!" the young Ruby said excitedly as she turned around to look at her father.

"I know baby, and I don't want you getting lost," Taiyang said, walking up to his daughter. "Promise me you won't go too far from me or Uncle Qrow, okay?"

"But Daddy-" Ruby began protesting.

"Ruby Rose, promise me you won't run off," Taiyang said, his voice turning stern.

Ruby pouted, but nonetheless nodded. "I promise…"

"Good, now let's go off and find your uncle and sister," Taiyang said, grabbing Ruby's hand.

"Okay," the young girl said, looking around. "Are there always this many people in Vale?"

Taiyang smiled, "No, baby. There are only this many people here for the Vytal Festival. But… Vale _does_ have more people than Patch does in the same area by quite a lot."

"Can we come back after it's over then!?"

"Let's just get through the festival first," Taiyang laughed, "but I don't see a reason why we can't."

"Yay!" Ruby cheered for a moment, before something caught her eye. "Is that sword on fire!?" She asked happily, and loudly.

"It seems some of the students from Beacon have set up a small show in town instead of just staying in the fairgrounds on campus," Taiyang said. "Do you want to check it out?"

"Yes!" Ruby answered, struggling against her father's grip on her hand.

"Alright, alright," Taiyang said, lifting his daughter up. "Let's see if we can get a closer look."

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Ruby cheered as Taiyang lead them through a crowd towards a display to the side of the area.

"Hey!" one of the students called out, walking towards them, "no touching the blades without permission, and especially no kids near th- oh, Mister Xiao Long, I wasn't expecting to see you," the student stopped dead in his tracks.

Taiyang laughed, "And I wasn't expecting to see you either Ver. As for your rules, they're perfectly fair, but my daughter here wants to be a Huntress, isn't that right Ruby?"

"Yes it is!" Ruby called out.

"See," he turned towards his daughter, "Ruby, this is one of my former students, Ver Million, Ver, this is Ruby."

"Hi," Ruby said quickly before looking back over at the weapons.

"Hello, Ruby," Ver said politely before looking over at the other students running the show for a moment, "And… alright, if there's anyone I'll trust with examining a weapon safely, it'll be one of my old teachers, but only for a bit, okay? I don't want anyone else getting ideas."

Taiyang nodded, "Sounds fair, just tell me one thing first, who's your main teacher at Beacon?"

"Well, if my team needs anything, we're to report to a new student teacher who sits in on lectures and meetings from time to time that we can meet with as well. Oobleck I think his name was. He's sitting in to learn while he gets close to finishing his doctorate. Anything really important goes to Professor Goodwitch."

Taiyang nodded, "Thank you, I'll make sure Professor Goodwitch hears some good things about your show then."

Ver smiled, "Thank you, sir, that means a lot."

"No problem, now," he turned his attention back to Ruby as Ver walked off, "which one do you want to look at first?"

"That one!" Ruby pointed.

"Alright, wait here," Taiyang ordered, as he set her down and reached forward to grab the sword. "Quality blade," he complimented as he held it out for Ruby to see, hilt first so the blade was facing away from her.

"Oooh, does it do anything?" Ruby asked, looking it over. There were a number of small divots in the blade spaced evenly down its length.

"Let's see," Taiyang ran his left hand over the bottom of the yellow hilt, "ah yes, there's a chamber," he pulled it out, exposing yellow crystals, "and it's filled with Electricity Dust. Anyone struck by this would be in for a real shock."

"And some things never change," Ver called out as he shook his head. "They're all Dust using blades. For the show they're all filled with only one kind, and the grips are color coded."

Taiyang looked them over, and set down the sword he was holding, and picked up one with a green hilt. "Mind if I give the Wind Blade a test?"

"You can, but that'll be the end of your time with it and the others," Ver answered motioning towards the target behind him with his head before turning back to the crowd.

Taiyang nodded, and pulled the Dust out of the hilt, and set the sword down. He then broke off a small piece of the Wind Crystal, and held it out to Ruby. "I want you to use your Aura and make use of this Dust."

"What, why?" Ruby asked.

Taiyang smiled, "Well, Uncle Qrow told me you were getting better with your Aura, I want to see it. If you do well, I'll show off the sword, okay?"

"Really!?"

"I promise, now come on, focus your Aura baby." Ruby nodded enthusiastically, and a dull red glow appeared around her hands as she clasped them over the crystal fragment. "Focus it more." Ruby's face contorted in forced concentration for a moment before a small burst of wind pushed her hands apart, the crystal falling to the ground.

"No!" Ruby reached down to fetch it, but Taiyang picked it up instead. "No, I can do it daddy!"

"I know, you already did," Taiyang said, patting her on the head. "I wouldn't have expected just any five year old to be able to get a reaction at all, and besides," he held out the small crystal before her, "it's smaller now, see. That's more than enough."

"Really?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Taiyang nodded, "Yep. Now," he placed the small crystal in the front pocket of Ruby's jacket, and picked the sword up, placing the Dust chamber back into the hilt, "let's give this sword a nice swing, okay?"

"Okay!" Ruby said, following her father down to the back of the area the students had set up.

"Ver, hold Ruby back."

"Alright," Ver, walked up and grabbed Ruby's hand, and walked her over to the side. "It'll be safe here, and you'll be able to see it clearly, okay?" Ruby nodded, not taking her eyes off of her father as he took up a position several feet from a dummy. A yellow glow appeared over his hand, and he swung the blade quickly through the air, a small whistling sound escaping from it. Almost instantly, a gash appeared on the dummy despite being well outside of the sword's reach, having been cut by a blade of wind. Around them, the crowd cheered as Taiyang handed the sword back over to one of the other students working the venue.

"Daddy, that was awesome!" Ruby cheered as he walked back up to her.

"Thank you, thank you," Taiyang said, as he picked Ruby up. "Now, we've been delayed long enough, we really do need to catch up with the others." Ruby nodded, looking downtrodden for a moment before quickly cheering back up.

Making their way through the crowded streets, the father/daughter duo found themselves in an open square after a few minutes. "Ah, there you are," a voice stopped them. Turning around, the two of them recognized the distinctive figure of Qrow Branwen as he made his way over to them, Ruby's half sister Yang at his heels. "Did the ship from Patch run late?"

"No, we just ran into a former student," Taiyang said, setting Ruby down.

"Daddy swung a wind sword!" Ruby said happily.

"Oh did he?" Qrow laughed as Yang bearhugged Ruby.

"Yang, stoooop!" Ruby cried out.

"Aww, but I've been stuck with Uncle Qrow for the last few days, I'm happy to see you again," Yang feigned complaint, letting the younger girl go anyway.

"Girls, I'm going to leave you with your uncle for a few minutes," Taiyang said, finishing his discussion with Qrow. "There are some things I need to check on before we do anything else, okay?"

"Okay," both of them respond. Their father nodded, and walked away.

"Uncle Qrow, when are you going to let me meet some of your Huntsmen friends too?" Ruby asked, not even attempting to hide the begging tone in her voice.

"When you're my age," Yang said proudly.

"You always say that!" Ruby whined.

"Well it's true!"

"But we're never going to be the same age!"

"That's not what I meant," Yang shook her head, trying not to laugh.

"Then what did you mean!?"

Qrow laughed, "Ruby, you'll meet some my other Huntsmen friends when you're seven. You'll just have to wait until then like Yang did." Ruby nodded, "Now," he stood up and looked around, "ah, who wants cotton candy?"

"I do, I do!" Ruby jumped up and down, raising her hand.

Qrow laughed, "Okay, that's a yes from Ruby. Yang?" Yang nodded rapidly. "Alright then, don't tell your father."

"Yay!" Ruby said, while her sister cheerfully punched the air above her.

Qrow smiled, and turned to face the cotton candy cart. "Ah, that line is long," he turned back to look at his nieces. "Tell you what, I'll wait in line, the two of you can wait," he looked around a bit, "on that bench," he pointed behind them.

Both girls turned to look at where he'd pointed, "Are you sure, dad doesn't want us getting too far," Yang pointed out.

"I'm sure," he knelt down, and looked both of them in the eye, a mischievous smile on his face. "What your father doesn't know, won't hurt him. That bench is close enough that I can see the two of you easily, and miraculously it's empty. If Tai comes back and sees you there, I can easily just get out of line early, and he'll be none the wiser."

"Okay!" Ruby said.

Qrow nodded before addressing the other girl, "Yang, I'm trusting you to keep Ruby still, alright?"

"What, but Uncle Qrow!"

"No buts," Qrow cut her off. "Keep Ruby from wandering off. If there aren't any grown ups keeping a constant eye on the two of you, that's your responsibility from now on, okay?" Yang opened her mouth, but closed it without saying anything, and nodded. "Alright, good, now hurry before your father gets back."

Both girls made their way to the bench, and sat down on it. "So, what're Uncle Qrow's friends like?" Ruby asked almost immediately as she began kicking her feet back and forth.

"They're really cool," Yang answered. "They've got all sorts of cool weapons. One guy had a staff that could explode, and another had a pair of axes that could combine into a bow."

"What! No way!" Ruby jumped up on the bench, her face lit with enthusiasm.

"Yeah," Yang said, laughing happily.

"You've got to be joking!"

"No, I'm serious."

"R-really?" Ruby was smiling broadly.

"Yeah, I'm seriously joking," Yang said, her laugh filling with mischief.

"W-what?" Ruby's face fell as Yang laughed laughed harder. "You made that up!?" Yang only smiled back as her laughter died down. "Oh, you meanie!" she hit Yang's shoulder ineffectively as found herself on the edge of tears.

Yang could only laugh for a few more moments before pushing her little sister back a bit, "And I was just joking now. They really did have those weapons."

"I don't believe you!" Ruby yelled back.

"It's true, Uncle Qrow has pictures," Yang said.

"Wha- okay," Ruby said, beginning to cheer back up, a sound coming from her left, catching her attention for a moment.

"So, dad used a wind sword?"

"Yeah," Ruby turned back to her sister, "he just swung it and a gash appeared on a dummy!" She immediately began miming the motion.

"Don't swords normally do that?" Yang asked teasingly.

"You know what I mean!" Ruby yelled out as another sound came from behind her. "What is that?" she jumped off the bench, and began to move towards it.

"Ruby, Uncle Qrow said to stay on the bench," Yang reminded her.

"I know, but he's right there," Ruby pointed towards him, standing in line.

"That doesn't matter."

"Come on, Yang, I'm just looking, I'm not going anywhere."

"Ruby stop!" Yang called out again, an unpracticed authoritative tone entering her voice. Ruby, however just brushed her off, and walked over to look down the alley. "Ruby!"

"Hey, what're you doing!?" Ruby called out, walking into the alley. There was a man standing in it, but she couldn't see what he was doing.

"Ruby!" Yang called out again, but the girl payed her no mind.

"Hey!" Ruby called out again, causing the man to turn around, a fierce expression on his pale face.

"Bad mistake," the man said, making his way over to the young girl. Behind the man came the sounds of hurried footsteps.

"Ruby, I told you to-" Yang's voice came again, this time filled with annoyance. "Ruby!" Yang ran forward, and tackled her sister to the ground, while the man lunged at them. She grunted as a knife the younger girl hadn't seen cut across her back.

"Yang!?" Ruby called out, danger and fear finally registering in her mind, causing tears to begin to welling up.

"That's what you get for playing hero," the man said, kicking Yang, knocking the girl out in a single strike. "Now, for you," he redirected his attention at Ruby.

"Y-Yang!?" Ruby cried out again as the man took another step towards her. She was torn between wanting to run for help, and not wanting to leave her sister.

"That's it, stay right there," the man smiled. As he prepared to strike out, he instead redirected the blade towards Yang's unconscious form.

"No!" she cried out as her tears began falling in greater amounts. In the next instant, her mind shut down, and she just closed her eyes as she called out for her sister, "Yang!" Without a single thought, Ruby charged the man down, her incredible speed knocking him back. A warm feeling came over Ruby's body as she reopened her eyes. The man was quickly recovering from the shock of the young girl's unexpected assault. However, before he could do anything else, he fell to the ground, a clean faced blonde man standing behind him.

The new arrival's fierce expression quickly softened as he looked at Ruby, surprised recognition filling his brown eyes for a moment before shifting to concern, matching his facial expression "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice filled with yet more concern.

"My sister's hurt," Ruby cried out, running back to Yang's side.

The man knelt down at Yang's side, and checked the cut on her back. "This isn't deep, not at all, she should be fine. What about you?" he looked back at Ruby.

"Girls, I said stay back at the- what happened!?" Qrow's voice reached them, quickly shifting from annoyance to fear in an instant. "Who're you!?" He demanded defensively as he ran up to the blonde man, quickly knocking him to the ground.

"No, Uncle Qrow, he saved me!" Ruby said, pulling on Qrow's pant leg.

"He did?" Qrow looked at Ruby, who nodded enthusiastically. Looking back at the man, Qrow's expression softened, "I'm sorry, I saw-"

"It's fine. I'd have done the same thing in your position. I did do the same thing," the man laughed. "Anyway, the other girl is hurt, but she'll be fine, it's just a light scratch."

Qrow nodded, still clearly concerned as he looked Ruby over before sighing deeply and hugging the small girl. "Please, don't wander off again."

"I won't," Ruby promised again as tears began falling anew. Qrow nodded, and walked over and picked Yang up.

"Your father's going to… well I don't want to think about it, we'll just have to wait and see." Qrow turned to face the man as he began to apply pressure to Yang's wound to stop what little bleeding there was. "I can't thank you enough."

"It's alright," the man responded. "My first time in Vale, and I see something like this," he shook his head.

"Well, I hope the rest of your visit isn't as bad as this," Qrow said, the stress beginning to leave his voice, if only slightly.

"I hope the same thing, I'm just glad my wife wasn't here to see this," the man shook his head. "And I thought I was seeing things, but sure enough," he knelt down and got a closer look at Ruby. Wiping away her tears, a nostalgic expression crossed his face, "You look just like my daughter. Almost exactly like her if she were your age, I'm sure of it."

"I guess you really were in my position," Qrow said, beginning to move towards the entrance of the alley, Ruby sticking close to him.

"I'll be honest, I didn't see what… Ruby?" the man asked, when Qrow nodded he continued on, "looked like until after I'd knocked their attacker out. Speaking of which," he lightly kicked the unconscious man, "I can deal with this piece of scum."

"You're sure? An out of towner picking a fight might have to win over the police."

"It's alright, I heard about this because the woman this guy attacked initially ran out the other side of the alley. I think these girls should just go enjoy the festival," the man said.

Qrow nodded again, "Again, thank you, a million times, thank you," he turned to Ruby. "Come on, we should get out and begin to figure out how to explain this to your father." Ruby just nodded, clearly looking shaken.

* * *

All four members of Team RWBY were sitting on the edge of the docking area for airships in the front of Beacon, staring out over the water and Vale in the distance. "Well, we did it," Yang said.

"We did it," Blake repeated, looking over at the group.

"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm gonna be seriously disappointed," Weiss spoke up, as always, thinking of their grades.

"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery," Yang said, before shaking her head, "I wouldn't count on it."

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything," Ruby added, trying not to sound as down as she felt. "A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't even know why they did this, or who that mystery girl was."

"Well," Weiss paused for a moment, "not every story has a neat and tidy ending."

"We might not have all the answers," Blake said, seemingly trying to reassure herself as much as the others, "but we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars. And I think that's something we could be proud of."

"Yeah! And if anyone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them," Ruby said more cheerfully as Yang slowly lay down while yawning.

"Yay," Yang halfheartedly waved her hands in the air while Zwei flipped onto his back as well, "teamwork, camaraderie, good guys, go team, alright, good job…" She leaned forward a bit, resting on her arms, "So, what now?"

"I'd suggest training for the tournament, but I guess we have that covered at this point," Weiss said.

"So then…" Blake began.

"Uhh... Time for bed?" Ruby suggested, hopeful the others would agree.

"Please."

"Absolutely."

"Yes," the others talked over each other.

"I'm going to sleep forever," Yang added as they stood up.

As they began walking off, Zwei let out a small bark.

* * *

Ruby's eyes shot open in her bed. She was shaking horribly from head to toe, and any attempts to calm herself down failed miserably. Looking around in her bed, she didn't see Zwei anywhere. "Zwei?" she called out quietly, sticking her head out of her small enclosure. The first thing she saw was Yang sleeping in the bed across from her, with Blake in her own bed on the bottom bunk. Looking straight down, Ruby saw Weiss asleep in her own bed. Zwei was snuggled up to the heiress in her arms.

Jumping down from her bed, Ruby knelt over the small dog and kissed the back of his head. As she stood back up, Zwei shifted around a bit, and looked at her, cocking his head to the side. Smiling weakly, Ruby turned around, and began walking out. Zwei jumped out of Weiss' bed and trotted up to her, poking Ruby's leg through her pajamas.

"No, Zwei, just stay here, okay?" Ruby whispered.

Zwei looked down for a moment but turned back around and walked back over to Weiss' bed slowly. Picking the little dog up, Ruby set him back on the bed. Turning back around Ruby took a deep breath in an attempt to calm back down, and made her way out of, not only the room, but the entire dormitory building.

The broken moon hung overhead in the night sky, and Ruby took several more deep breaths as she made her way slowly across the dark campus. The young leader had no idea where she was going, but her stroll was helping her calm down like she'd hoped it would. She paused only for a moment when she found herself back at the airship docks before opting to continue on, only stopping again when she found herself in the back of campus, at the entrance to the cemetery.

Ruby began to move beyond it, but stopped, and instead entered the area she'd heard so much about. The different areas of the cemetery were clearly marked with each class's graduating year, and she quickly moved down the long pathway flanked with white, grey, and black tombstones, to the one she was looking for. Stopping, she found a team plot that was half empty. The first was labelled with the name Raven Branwen, and had an MIA label showing she was assumed dead. Moving past Yang's mother's tombstone, she sat down in front of the second grave, the one she'd been looking for.

"Summer Rose," Weiss' voice came from behind her after a few minutes. Ruby jumped and looked behind her to see the white haired girl reading the inscriptions while Zwei hopped in the younger girl's lap. "DNB. Deceased but Not Buried, they couldn't bury her?"

Ruby shook her head, "She died while out on a mission. My dad and uncle never told me where she went, and any mention of it still makes them shut down a bit, but apparently they couldn't get her back to Beacon."

Weiss nodded slowly, sitting down next to her partner. "You and Yang never talk about your mother, I can see why now… well, at least a bit."

"Well, she's no-" Ruby shook her head.

"What is it?"

"It's not important," Ruby said, scratching Zwei's head. "So, why are you up? And how did you find me?"

"Zwei woke me up," Weiss answered, tapping the corgi's nose playfully. "He also led me to you. What about you?"

"I… I couldn't stay asleep," she laughed emotionlessly. "Every time I fall asleep, I have a nightmare."

"So, you payed a visit to Beacon's cemetery? I mean, I've been interested in seeing it, but I don't think it's a really good place to visit to help with nightmares."

A small smile crossed Ruby's lips, "No, I just went for a walk, and I just kinda… found myself at the entrance."

Weiss nodded slowly, "So, what were you dreaming of that was keeping you up? The breach?"

"No," Ruby shook her head, "well, yes, but not exactly." She shifted around, causing Zwei to jump off her lap and into Weiss' while Ruby pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Then what?" Silence hung in the air for nearly a minute, while Ruby struggled to talk. "Come on, spit it out."

"It was… it was of the Grimm in general."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked while Zwei poked the younger girl with his snout, whimpering a bit.

"They terrify me, Weiss."

"W-what? I've seen you slay dozens of them, sometimes at once."

Ruby took an unsteady breath, "Well, when I have Crescent Rose, I'm fine, but the thought of what would happen if I didn't have it…" she began shaking again.

"Well, I'm here," Weiss said quietly, put off by Ruby's demeanor, "Yang's here, Blake too. You don't have to worry about the Grimm blindsiding you-"

"That's not it," Ruby cut her off, sounding fearful. "I'm not afraid of dying, Weiss." She shook her head a bit, still staring into the distance. "I learned that when Yang and I were attacked when we were younger. No, what I'm afraid of... It's everyone else…" she trailed off as tears began to build up as she stared at the grave in front of her.

"You've said before you became a Huntress to protect people, but… I'd never have thought… You don't want anyone else losing a parent don't you?"

Ruby nodded slowly. "When Uncle Qrow told me what happened, I was so angry at her for leaving," she took a deep shuddering breath. "That was my first time dealing with death. I had no idea what to think at first but…"

"But it died down?" Weiss asked as Zwei rested his head against Ruby's leg, letting out a sad whimper.

"That's the thing, it," Ruby swallowed, a shiver running through her body, "it never died down. I'm still angry, just… not at her."

"W-what?" Weiss was clearly taken aback by the venom that had entered Ruby's voice. Not that the young leader noticed.

"It's just… after what they did to my mom, I'm terrified of what the Grimm could do to anyone else I care about," she took a deep breath, glaring in the distance, "but I also hate them. I hate them with my entire being."

* * *

"Daddy?" Ruby called out, exiting her room. "Daddy? Is mommy home?" She wandered around the house a bit, but didn't see anyone until she entered the dining room, where she saw her older sister sitting at the table. "Yang?"

"Oh, hey Ruby," Yang said cheerfully.

"Where's daddy?"

"Uncle Qrow came over and took daddy outside to talk a bit," Yang answered, shrugging.

"What about mommy?"

"She's not home yet," Yang just shrugged again.

"What, but…"

"I know, but she's not home yet." Yang shrugged again. "Her mission probably just took longer than they thought it would," she suggested as the sound of the front door opening reached them, along with their father's and uncle's voices.

"Daddy!" Ruby ran out excitedly, only to stop in her tracks as she saw the tears rolling down his face. "What's wrong?" He didn't answer, he didn't even do anything for a few moments before just shaking his head, and sitting down. "D-daddy?"

"Ruby…" Qrow said weakly, tears clearly evident in the corner of his eyes as well.

"What's going… on?" Yang asked as she walked into the room behind Ruby, clearly put off by their father and uncle's demeanors.

"Girls um," Qrow ran his hand over his mouth for a moment. "Uh, go back into the dining room, I'll explain in there, just… just give me a minute first, okay?" The both of them nodded, and made their way as instructed.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked fearfully. She had no idea what to think.

"I don't know," Yang shook her head.

"But you always know what they're up to."

"Well I don't this time," Yang threw her hands up into the air.

"I… okay…" Ruby looked down.

After a few minutes, Qrow walked in as well, and sat across from his nieces at the table. "I… I really don't know how to say this, but," he took a deep breath, "Summer is… your mother isn't… she isn't coming back."

"What?" Yang yelled out, while Ruby began shaking her head vigorously.

"No, no, no no, no!"

"What do you mean!?" Yang demanded.

"Summer, she didn't make it on her last mission. She's… she's go-gone," Qrow said, choking on the last word.

"No, no," Yang said, tears began rolling down her cheeks, while Ruby just kept shaking her head.

"Girls…"

"Why would she leave us!?" Ruby demanded.

"She didn't have a choice-"

"Why!?" Ruby yelled before running out of the room. She ran all the way back to her room, slamming her door shut behind her, climbed into her bed, and hid under her sheets, tears streaming down her face the entire time.

"Ruby," Qrow's voice reached her as she heard the door open.

"Why'd she leave…" she cried out.

"She wouldn't have if she'd had the choice," Qrow said, as Ruby felt him sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Then why!?" Ruby's voice was filled with anguish as her tears fell into the bed.

"Ruby," Qrow's hand rested on her shoulder through the sheets. "She was fighting the Grimm to keep everyone safe. They just… she couldn't stop all of them, and the others she was with couldn't get to her in time…" Ruby just shook her head under her bed sheets. "She had no choice, if she did, she would be here now."

"So what? She's just gone!?" Ruby demanded.

"Yes," Qrow said, pausing for a moment. "She's… dead. There's nothing that can bring her back from that, no matter how much we wish it were different."

"So… the Grimm made her dead?" Ruby asked after a moment.

"Yes," Qrow answered, unsure of what else to say. "Do you… want some time?" Ruby nodded. "Okay, I'll be back later." Ruby just nodded again, and when she felt Qrow stand from her bed, she pulled her sheets tighter around her, and curled up.

Ruby didn't know how to feel or act. She felt sad, betrayed, and angry all at once. The more she thought about her mother being gone, the more her sadness grew, and tears flowed anew down her cheeks, but the thought that it wasn't her mother's fault helped ease the sense of betrayal, if only a little. However, the more she thought about it, the more her thoughts drifted towards the Grimm, and she felt herself growing angier and angier. Her initial feeling of betrayal at her mother all but disappearing under a seething rage, and she wanted nothing more but to destroy them all, and she felt herself begin shaking.

Qrow returned to the room half an hour later. "How are you doing?"

"I want to fight the Grimm," Ruby said calmly.

"W-what?" Qrow asked in obvious surprise.

"You and daddy and mommy fight Grimm to keep everyone safe…"

"We do," Qrow said. "Do you want to keep everyone safe?"

"Yes," Ruby answered honestly.

Qrow didn't say anything for a long time. "Okay, if you're sure, I'll support you on that. I'll even try my best to talk your father into agreeing too."

* * *

Ruby grunted as she opened her eyes. She was lying in what was clearly a hospital bed, something that made her laugh, "First Blake and Yang, now me, huh?"

"Thanks," Yang's voice came from her side, making Ruby look over. Sure enough, Yang was sitting between the room's door and Weiss.

"Where's Blake?"

"Meeting with General Ironwood," Weiss answered. "He wanted a report about what happened out on the mission, and he wanted it as quickly as possible. She volunteered."

Ruby nodded, feeling tired. "What exactly happened?"

"We're not completely sure. We found you with a number of Beowolves over you, we figured they overwhelmed you," Yang answered, her voice filling with more and more relief as she spoke.

"Yeah, and nearly gave us heart attacks as we cleared them out," Weiss added, the frustration in her voice barely masking her own relief.

"I don't remember that," Ruby leaned back in the bed thinking. "I remember fighting a bunch of Beowolves, yeah, but I don't remember being defeated. I thought I'd cleared them all out."

"Maybe one blindsided you?" Weiss suggested.

"I guess," Ruby shrugged. "How long have I been out for?"

"A day," Yang answered. "You had some pretty bad Aura loss, but beyond that, nothing major. Just a few cuts and bruises."

"Enough that you won't be able to use them as an excuse to get out of class," Weiss pointed out.

Ruby laughed, "Okay, okay. So how long do I have to stay here?"

"You're free to go," Blake said, walking into the room. "Your Aura's been stable since you came in. It was just low."

"That's great," Ruby said, throwing the sheets to the side, jumping out of the bed, and making her way to the door.

"Uh, Ruby, you might want to wait for your clothes first," Weiss said before the young leader could open the door.

"Uh," Ruby looked down to see the hospital gown she was wearing, "yeah, probably a, uh, probably a good idea." Returning to the bed, Ruby called in one of Beacon's physicians.

"Ah, Miss Rose, you're awake," she said, smiling warmly. "Professor Ozpin will be happy to hear that. If you want, I'll go fetch your clothes."

"Yes, please," Ruby said, having sat back down. The physician nodded, exited the room, and returned a few minutes later with the clothes. "Thank you," Ruby began taking the clothing out of the small package for a moment before looking up at her teammates, "You mind?"

"Yeah, we'll be right outside," Yang said, as the three older girls left the room. After having changed, Ruby walked out into the common area of Beacon's medical building as she adjusted her cloak. "So, what're we doing first?"

"I figured seeing Team JNPR would be the obvious answer," Weiss answered, an amused smile appearing on her face. "Being neither teammates nor family, they couldn't see you themselves."

Ruby smiled broadly, "Sounds like a plan. Today is… uh, what's today?"

"Today is Wednesday," Blake answered.

"And it-"

"It's around 4 in the afternoon," Weiss answered.

"And ha-"

"And no classes today for our year," Yang said. "But there is one of Oobleck's tests coming up Monday."

"Alright then," Ruby said, getting louder with every word as she pointed towards the sky, "to the library!"

"...What?" Blake asked looking at the others.

"First Weiss and a chair, and now this," Yang shrugged. "At least this is something I expect from my younger sister."

Ruby and Weiss both laughed. "Let's just get going," Ruby said after a moment. A suggestion the others quickly agreed to, and they set off across the campus. "It's sooo nice being back in an area where it's warm outside."

"Yeah, the mountain was nice, but it was definitely cold," Blake agreed.

"I still don't see what you guys are talking about," Yang said, an amused smile on her face that made Blake punch her. "Hey!"

Ruby laughed, "Come on, let's just get to the library first." Before any of the others could say or do anything, however, she was already running off, and a few minutes later, they were at the entrance to the campus library.

"Ah, Team RWBY," the head librarian said as they came in. "As always, I'd like to remind you that libraries are meant to be place of peace and quiet."

"Yes sir," the four girls said in varying ways. Blake and Weiss responded while being completely serious about it. Ruby was somewhat distracted, while Yang was more flippant in her response.

Making their way to their usual area upstairs, they found Team JNPR sitting around studying. Or rather, most of the team. "Where's Jaune?" Ruby asked, looking between Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren.

"Oh, Ruby you're awa-!" Nora called out before being interrupted by Ren's hand over her mouth.

"Jaune forgot something back in our room, so he went back to get it," Pyrrha said, not looking up from her book.

"Alright," Ruby said, sitting at the next table over, Weiss, Blake, and Yang joining her.

"Do you want us to message him to get your guys' stuff too?" Nora asked, her whisper somehow managing to carry through the area as easily as her normal voice.

"Please do," Weiss answered. Nora nodded, and began typing away on her scroll, her rapid movements exaggerated to the point of nearly being absurd.

"So, how goes the studying?" Yang asked, resting her head on her left hand.

"It goes," Pyrrha answered, finally looking up. "You know how Doctor Oobleck's tests go."

"Pain, suffering, and depression for an entire week beforehand, but everyone still manages to do well anyway, yeah, always fun," Yang groaned out. "I can't wait for graduation just to be done with them."

"Oh come on, they're not that bad," Weiss argued back.

"Weiss, you study way too much normally, of course you wouldn't have as hard a time."

"I'm just being a good student, something you could spend more time working on," the white haired girl said.

"Weiss, there's a line between being studious and obsessive, and you've crossed it a number of times," Yang shook her head.

"Hey, I haven't crossed any line. I… just walk along it," Weiss tried arguing, as her argument quickly deflated.

"Sure you do," Yang shook her head. "I decided to become a Huntress to fight Grimm. I don't see how learning about the Faunus War helps that… and I'm not saying it's unimportant," Yang cut off Blake, who had opened her mouth. "It was, and I don't think any of us here are unhappy about how it turned out, but I don't see how learning about how a general forgot about faunus' night vision is useful for killing monsters."

"Well, Oobleck does always say that history's important for not making the same mistakes," Ruby said.

"That's also a well known phrase, well not quite that, but close," Yang said. "And I'm all for learning these things, but I don't see the point in making those the hardest lessons."

"Yeah, well I imagine some of the other teachers could probably be convinced to make their tests harder if you ask them," Jaune said, setting down a bag filled with books onto the middle of the table Team RWBY was sitting at.

"No," all seven of his friends said immediately.

"Hey, I didn't say it was a good idea, I just said they'd probably be willing to. At least more willing than Oobleck is to make his tests easier," Jaune shrugged, pulling two books out of the bag.

"Yeah, well, some suggestions you should probably just leave unsaid," Ruby said, leaning back in her chair.

"I suppose," Jaune shrugged as he leaned down and kissed the younger leader. Ruby smiled momentarily as she returned it. Ending the kiss, Jaune looked Ruby in the eyes, "Now please tell me you're going to be more careful from now on."

"I will," Ruby said honestly, "I really don't want to wake up in the hospital again."

"Yeah, that's Yang's thing," Weiss said. "Ow," Ruby looked over to see her partner rubbing her head with Yang shaking her head next to her.

Ruby laughed, looking back at Jaune, "Yeah, we'll want to celebrate it being just from Aura loss, unlike most of Yang's."

"Hey!"

"Sure. Friday after classes to get it out of the way before our studying intensifies?" Jaune suggested.

"Sound great," Ruby answered. Jaune nodded, smiling broadly, before making his way over to his team.

Ruby turned back to her team to see Yang making a vomiting motion for a split second before Weiss returned the favor for hitting her a few moments earlier.

"And what did we walk into?" a familiar voice said from behind her. Turning around, Ruby saw the distinctive appearance of Sun Wukong walking towards the table, his team close behind.

"Oh just the usual for this family," Ruby said, pulling a book to herself as the four boys of Team SSSN sat down at their table.

"That can be a worrying statement at times," Neptune pointed out, pulling a book towards himself.

"Something tells me they're fully aware of that," Sage said, picking up the book Weiss had replaced. He glanced it over for a moment before setting it back down.

"Oh we are," Yang said, a wry smile crossing her face for a moment.

Sage just shook his head for a moment as Ruby looked to the final member of the newly arrived Team. "Hey Scarlet," Weiss opened her mouth for a moment before shaking her head, "mind passing that book over?"

"No problem," he said, picking up the book Sage had just looked at. As he handed it over, he looked over at Weiss. "So, ever going to explain why you have such an issue with my name?"

Ruby laughed for a moment, "That's a question with a pretty amusing answer."

* * *

"Hello Pro-er, Doctor Oobleck," Ruby greeted cheerfully as she walked into his messy office.

"Oh, Ruby, what brings you here this morning?" Oobleck asked, not looking up from his vast amounts of documents that he was hurriedly sifting through.

"I just wanted to go over a few things for the test Monday," Ruby answered, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. The closest she got to a response was a quick head movement that she couldn't even tell if it was meant for her or was just him quickly looking between a few papers on his desk. "Um, Doctor, am I interrupting anything?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Oobleck answered, finally looking up at his visiting student. "I must apologize, I'm preparing for a visit from my old partner for the next set of lessons. So, what is it you wish to discuss specifically?"

Before Ruby could answer, she heard the door behind her open again. "Hey, Doc, you mind helping us out?" Ruby mentally sighed in frustration as she recognized the voice of Cardin Winchester.

Oobleck looked up at the new arrival, "As you can see I'm already with a student of a different team. I'll be free to address any questions you and your team have afterwards."

"Oh come on Doc, help us out," Cardin said, taking a seat next to Ruby, who edged away from him slightly.

"As I've already said-"

"No, it's okay," Ruby said, standing back up. "I can just come back tomorrow." Oobleck shifted his eyes from Cardin to her, and nodded.

"Same time tomorrow," Oobleck said.

Ruby nodded. "Thank you, sir." Outside, she passed the other three members of Team CRDL, who took her leaving as a sign to enter in her place. Halfway to the library, she couldn't help but let out a loud groan of frustration.

"Is there something wrong?"

Ruby jumped a bit in surprise, and quickly spun around. "Penny? What are you doing at Beacon?"

"My father and Mister Ironwood brought me to see Mister Ozpin," Penny said happily. "Would you like to come along?"

"Oh, no I couldn't," Ruby said, shaking her head. "I'd love to meet your dad, but I'm busy right now."

"Is that why you sounded so annoyed?"

"Tests can do that," Ruby heard the familiar voice of Ozpin came from behind her. Turning her head, she saw the old headmaster walk up to the two of them, "Which is why it's always worth taking a break from time to time, if not for too long."

Ruby laughed weakly, "Yeah, but Weiss would kill me if I suggested that, and I've got a break coming up later."

Ozpin nodded slowly, "So long as you don't work yourself to the point of passing out. I've seen that far too many times, and now," he turned to Penny, "your father is looking for you. Apparently you weren't to go walking out alone."

"I thought I was allowed around Beacon just fine though," Penny said, before hiccuping.

Ozpin nodded slowly, and took a sip from his mug as another voice called out, "Penny, there you are!"

"Oh, hello Mister Ironwood," Penny greeted as the General walked up to the group.

"Please don't play innocent, Penny, you know you weren't to go off on your own," Ironwood said, sounding incredibly flustered as he shook his head.

"And as you can see, she's wasn't alone. She was with me before you showed up," Ozpin said, turning to the man.

"Right," Ironwood said, clearly not sounding convinced. "Is this true?" he asked, turning towards Penny.

"Yes," Penny said.

Ironwood furrowed his brow for a moment before nodding, "Alright, then," he turned to Ruby, "and always good to see you when you're not in trouble, Ruby."

Ruby laughed weakly and somewhat mischievously as she scratched the back of her head. "It's always nice seeing you too when I'm not in trouble either, General."

Ironwood nodded, "Well, without the White Fang, I hope we won't have to deal with that again. Now," he turned back to Penny, "your father is beyond worried, we should get back to him."

"Okay," Penny agreed.

Ozpin nodded, "I suppose it is time to talk with Albero about what is to happen at the Vytal Festival." Ironwood nodded, and he began to walk off with Penny. Turning back to Ruby, Ozpin took another quick drink from his mug. "And again, remember not to overwork yourself. Respite is more than necessary when dealing with stress."

"I will," Ruby said. Ozpin nodded and walked away. Taking a deep breath, Ruby set back off towards the library.

"Ah, Miss Rose, your teammates are in your normal spot," the librarian informed the young leader as she scanned in.

"Thank you," Ruby nodded before making her way upstairs to meet them.

"That was fast," Blake said as Ruby sat back down.

"Yeah, well, Cardin and his team showed up," the young leader answered, pulling a book on the table towards herself.

"Yeah, well, they probably need the help a lot more than you do," Weiss said, not looking up from her book.

"Last time I checked, we don't exactly care if they pass or not," Yang said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Hey," Weiss shrugged, "we give them a lot of flak-"

"Very well deserved flak," Blake added.

"Well deserved or not, they're good at what they do," Weiss pointed out. "They were chosen to go against Pyrrha for a reason, and Goodwitch isn't one to let a fight happen if she thinks it'll just end in one side being utterly humiliated."

"But they were utterly humiliated," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, that was fun to watch," Blake said, smiling.

Everyone else stopped what they were doing and just stared at the black haired girl, who simply shrugged.

"Weren't you distracted with a lack of-" Ruby started.

"Regardless," Weiss cut Ruby off as she turned back to face Yang, "Goodwitch signed off on it for a reason."

"Yeah, a nice show." Yang leaned back in her chair for a moment before reluctantly returning her eyes to the book in front of her. "Someone kill me please," she groaned out after only a few moments.

"Somehow I doubt anyone's going to take you up on that," Weiss said standing up from the table in order to fetch another history book. Yang only groaned more.

"Well," Blake looked up from her own book, "would you rather be doing this or paperwork, because that's what we're in store for when we graduate."

Yang leaned back in her chair, lightly slapping the sides of her face to wake herself up, "I'd rather Ruby have been able to ask what we should focus on instead of just going through everything," she took a deep annoyed breath, "but to answer your question, I'd rather be bored and inconvenienced than bored and stressed, so I'd rather have the paperwork."

"Yeah, and we won't be having ridiculous amounts of paperwork every month," Ruby said.

"Yeah, just after every single mission," Blake said, returning her gaze to her book. This time it was Ruby's turn to groan.

"Oh don't complain, you're the one who gets out of this for a while tonight," Yang said, opening her own book back up as Weiss returned.

"Speaking of which, don't you think you should be getting ready for your date already?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, I figured I'd head back to the room at five thirty, right now it's," she looked over at the clock, "five fifty… seven…"

"So yeah, you're," Yang was interrupted by Ruby flying out of her seat and towards the entrance of the library, her speed boosted by her Semblance, "...late."

"Miss Rose, wha-" the librarians words were lost as Ruby flew past him, and out of the library entirely, a few stray papers flying through the air in her wake.

The campus flew by around her as she navigated her way. Despite moving at high speeds, her view of the surrounding area wasn't distorted in slightest, time seemed slowed to a crawl as she processed what was going on around her. In only a few minutes, she had made her way across campus and into her dorm building. Finally coming to a stop, Ruby skidded several feet across the floor of the hallway outside her Team's and Team JNPR's rooms. Quickly unlocking the door to Team RWBY's room, she flung the it open, and moved inside.

A happy bark to her side made her look around to see Zwei curled up on Blake's pillow. "Zwei, I'm sorry, I'll play with you later, okay," Ruby said hurriedly as she closed the door and began to walk over to the dresser. However, she paused after a few steps, and changed course over to to the small dog anyway, and picked him up. "And you know Blake doesn't like you messing with her stuff." Zwei just leaned forward and licked her nose. "And you also know that won't work," Ruby giggled a bit as she walked him over to Weiss' bed and set him down again. Zwei whimpered a bit before curling up on Weiss' pillow instead. "Alright, good boy," Ruby said, before making her way back to her dresser and pulling out her change of clothes.

A short shower later, Ruby walked out of the bathroom in her new outfit, and picked her scroll off of the dresser and checked the time. "That was way too close," she shook her head, and walked out of the room, bidding Zwei farewell for a few hours.

Several minutes later, Jaune walked out of his team's room. "Only ten minutes late, I've managed worse."

"Yeah, well so have I," Ruby giggled.

Jaune laughed along with her, "That's true. It's been awhile since you've worn that outfit."

"Yeah, not since we took down that mech Torchwick had," Ruby said as they walked down the hall. "So, you were in charge of plans this time, what're we doing?"

"I figured a movie would be nice."

"Really, what're we seeing?"

"Well, I figured we could decide when we get there," Jaune shrugged.

"You don't even know what's playing do you?" Ruby asked skeptically as they stepped outside.

"Uh...Sure I, uh, sure I do."

"Jaune, I can see you reaching for your scroll," Ruby said, shaking her head slightly, the smile never leaving her face.

Jaune put his arm around Ruby and pulled her closer, "Well, we can decide over dinner, how 'bout that?" Ruby just shook her head again and laughed. "Is your hair wet?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I was kinda late too."

Jaune laughed, "Why do we even try?"

"I don't know," Ruby said as they stepped out into the rapidly darkening sunset. "Let's say you and I just enjoy the atmosphere until we've gotten food?"

Jaune stifled another laugh, "You must be really hungry, huh?"

"...maybe."

"Alright, alright," Jaune shook his head. "But only until we've ordered, deal?"

"Deal."

Forty-five minutes later, and the two of them were seated at a table in Vale. "So, how's the studying been?" Ruby asked, looking over at Jaune.

Jaune took an exaggerated breath. "It's certainly progressing. Pyrrha helps keep me on track, but there's the constant threat of Nora breaking loose from Ren."

Ruby laughed, "One person only wanting to study, and the other wanting to do anything but. Yeah, I've not idea what that's like."

Jaune shook his head, "I don't know what it's like for you, but for me it's so weird. I can't imagine what it must have been like growing up with them."

Ruby shrugged, "They're my sisters. I've dealt with it my entire life. I honestly can't imagine not dealing with it."

"So being teamed up with Yang and Weiss was just more of the same," Jaune shook his head again, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Yeah, basically. Dealing with them here's exactly like dealing with them back on Patch."

Jaune sighed, "And here I thought I'd actually manage to get a useful tip out of you tonight."

"Sorry, but not toni- really?" Ruby's voice had quickly changed from amusement to slight horror.

"What is-"

"Jaune," Ruby interrupted him, "I guess it's time you met my dad."

"Wait, wha-"

"Ruby, I wasn't expecting to see you here tonight," Qrow said walking up to the table.

"Hi dad," Ruby said, smiling broadly.

"Hello sir," Jaune said politely.

"Let's see," Qrow looked between the two teenagers, "your sisters aren't here, nor is Blake, and you're alone with a boy. Did I stumble upon a date?"

Ruby sighed and shook her head, smiling the entire time. "Dad, this is Jaune," she motioned at the boy, "and yeah, he's my, uh, my boyfriend."

"It's a good thing your uncle didn't show up instead," Qrow said, extending his hand to Jaune. "It's a pleasure to meet you, are you another student at Beacon?"

"I am," Jaune said, shaking the proffered hand.

"Jaune's the leader of another team," Ruby added.

Qrow nodded again, "Even better. Well," he turned back to Ruby, "I'm here for work, so I'll leave the two of you alone."

Ruby nodded, "Thank you."

* * *

"So, how much trouble did I get us in?" Ruby asked over breakfast.

"Overall not that much," Yang shrugged as she stifled a yawn. "We just told him you were late."

"Late for a very important date," Weiss added, trying not to laugh.

"I'm being serious," Ruby said.

"We are too, that's actually we we told him," Yang said, a mischievous smile crossing her face.

"Come on guys..." Ruby started.

"They're actually being serious," Blake said, sitting down. "They really did tell him you were late for your date, and we're not getting in trouble for it."

"Wait, really?" Ruby asked, disbelievingly.

"Yeah," Yang said, her smile changing into a smirk, "you are."

Ruby visibly slumped in her seat, "Well at least the movie was nice."

"Honestly, a movie sounds wonderful right now," a male voice came from behind her. Looking up, Ruby saw Sun walking up to the table. "What do ya say?" he asked as he sat down next to Blake.

"I think we can talk about that later," Blake responded, her voice unreadable.

Sun shrugged, "Fair enough. After your test?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Blake smiled weakly. Sun nodded, lifting a piece of toast off of her plate. Taking a bite, he stood up, and began to walk away.

"Wait," Ruby said, looking over at the departing faunus. "Where're your teammates? You hardly go anywhere without them these days."

Sun laughed, "Well, we were also not so subtly advised," his eyes drifted over to Weiss for a moment, "that we should probably give you guys some space until after your test."

Ruby laughed, "That's probably a good idea, but you could have at least brought them around to eat."

Sun nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, and with that, he turned and left, letting his fingers brush against Blake's cat ears.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Weiss redirected her attention to Blake. "So, something going on between the two of you? Normally you would have accepted in a heartbeat."

"Seriously, last time this happened, we'd just fought Torchwick in a mech," Yang added.

"It's nothing," Blake said, shrugging.

"Sure it is," Yang said, her voice filled with skepticism. "Blake what is it?"

Blake sighed, "I think I'm going to break up with Sun."

"What!?" Ruby yelled out.

"Wait... really?" Weiss said, momentarily stunned.

"Why?" Yang asked.

Blake shook her head. "I don't know. There's something… missing," as she spoke, her eyes glanced over at Yang for a moment. "I mean, I don't want to lead him on, but I can't figure out what to say… Anyway, how was your date?" she quickly changed the subject, her face having become a light pink. "You mentioned a movie."

"Yeah, how was your date with lover boy? Did he wear a dress again?" Yang asked, taking the bait.

Ruby laughed, "You know full well he didn't… and as for the movie, it was fairly nice. The entire thing was. We even ran into dad."

"That must have been an encounter," Weiss said.

Ruby shrugged, "Not really, he just introduced himself to Jaune and left."

"It was a good thing it was dad and not-"

"I know, Weiss, I know" Ruby cut her off, "he said the same thing."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," Yang shook her head.

"Anyway, time to eat and get back to studying," Weiss said.

"That sounds great," Blake added.

"...really?" Ruby asked.

Blake sighed, "No, not really…"

* * *

"And test day, huh?" Neptune asked as he, along with his teammates, sat down at the same table Team RWBY was at.

"Yep," Ruby said, stifling a yawn. "Starts at the top of the hour."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Scarlet said reassuringly.

"We always do," Weiss said proudly.

"You sure about that?" Sun said, eyeing Yang for a moment before laughing good naturedly.

"Hey, I do perfectly fine on all our tests," Yang defended in mock offense.

"I can't help but feel that's only because of your sister," Sage said, looking over at Weiss, who smiled as proudly as she'd sounded earlier.

"And her partner," Sun added, bowing his head at Blake, who smiled discreetly as she finished eating.

Yang huffed a bit as Ruby smiled broadly, trying not to laugh as Team CFVY walked past the table.

"Hey guys!" Ruby waved at the passing team.

"Good luck on your test," Velvet said as the rest of the team only vaguely acknowledged the two younger teams as they made their way to their own place to sit.

"So, I guess we'll see you on the other side," Scarlet said, as Team RWBY stood back up.

"Uh, huh," Ruby said affirmatively before she, and the rest of her team, made their way out of the dining hall and out into the main campus. "So, how many questions you think?" she asked as they approached the classroom. "Last one was over two hundred."

"Yeah, but they were mostly multiple choice," Blake pointed out. "His test before that was only ten questions, but they were all open ended and took forever."

"As did the questions on his multiple choice test that weren't, well, multiple choice," Weiss added.

"Please don't-" Yang's voice cut out as they entered the room. Instead of a bustling hall filled with students, Ruby found the lecture hall completely empty, sans one woman standing alone in front of the desk.

"Who're you?" Ruby asked, looking around. "Where's everyone else?" The woman cocked her head, but didn't answer the question. "What's going on here?" Ruby looked around the room again, before beginning to descend the stairs towards the woman. Something in her mind told her not to, but it was drowned out by a combination of a subconscious feeling that everything was alright and her continually growing curiosity. As she neared the floor, Ruby couldn't help but feel the woman looked somewhat familiar, her orange and black color scheme leaving the name right on the tip of her tongue.

**A/N2: So, normally this would be where I explain some of my writing decisions… but not this time, (bar the very important date joke, that came to me, and I actually stopped writing what I was writing, and skipped ahead to make sure I didn't forget it) instead I'm going to say that this was easily one of the most… interesting things I've written. Beyond that, there were a few scenes in this that I felt I had to get right, and what I have is at least in the direction I want it to be in the long run. If I come up with something better, or, more likely, something better just comes to me, I'm not above coming back and rewriting portions of the chapter, it wouldn't be the first time, going off of that:**

**A/N3: So, the very first scene, Ruby and Yang being saved by Beige. I had actually wanted to start off the entire fic with a snippet of that scene, but I honestly couldn't figure out how to write it at the time. I think I tried like 4 different times before just giving up and just starting with them arriving in Atlas. Well, for this chapter, I needed to use that scene, the full scene, and I refused to write anything else for this until I had gotten at least a rough draft of it down. It took a while, but finally it kind of just came to me how it should progress, and boom, I had what I'd wanted the entire thing to start off with finally written, so I've since gone back and placed a small snippet of the scene in Chapter 1 so that I finally had the start I always wanted.**

**A/N4-P: Now, Qrow is perpetually drunk in canon, and, while I am using that, and edited it in to previous chapters, I'm writing him as sober here because reasons.**


	13. Mirror Mirror

**A/N1: Yay, Volume 3's started! More on that later, but first the chapter. Also, while I'm still not sorry if you are, or get, confused, I will say that explanation will come… next chapter, and then things return to normal.**

Weiss' fingers flew over the virtual keyboard on the desk in her office. Minutes passed in silence as she typed out a document, and with a final few presses, she saved it and began transferring it to the relevant department. With that task completed, she sighed, and leaned back, her eyes looking over the office. The large screen on the opposing wall was currently displaying her family's snowflake symbol and, by extension, the symbol of her family's company as a whole. Myrtenaster was resting in a display case in the corner between it and the door, with another case filled with a variety of Dust crystals arranged by color in a rainbow pattern sitting in the opposite corner. Closing her eyes for several minutes, Weiss only opened them again when she heard the door open.

Closing the door was a young woman wearing customized high ranking military garbs. A sleeveless formal white coat was pinned around her throat with a pin embedded with a crystal of red Dust, the inner parts of the collar the same color, with a second grey pin around her waist. It was worn over a blue vest, in turn worn over a white shirt with a pleated front and sleeves that opened and exposed her upper arms before closing back up just above her elbows, with a pair of black leather gloves keeping the sleeves in place around her wrists. Her white pants, the top of which was also under the blue vest, extended down into her silver, thigh length, high heeled boots, with dark grey patterns over her knees that extended up to the top of the boots. The boots were kept in place by straps hooked to a hidden belt. Completing the complex outfit was a translucent cloth hanging from the back of her belt that hung down below the lowest points of her jacket. Her pale skin was only slightly more colored than the surrounding white of her outfit, and her pure white hair was nearly a perfect match. Her hair was mostly held up in a moderately sized bun, a single ringlet hanging down in front of her left ear, with her bangs grown long, reaching lower than her chin on the right side, but held to the side enough for both of her light blue eyes to be seen. Said eyes were focused on the room's only other inhabitant.

"I'm guessing you're fully aware of just how late it is," Winter said, taking a seat across from her sister.

Weiss smiled weakly, "Either not as late as I thought or you worked late as well. Did something come up with the research?"

Winter sighed, "Unfortunately we hit a snag on a new project."

Weiss nodded, "Then yes, I know I should have gone home around three hours ago." She sighed out, "There's just so much that needs to get done in the next few days."

"I'm fully aware of just how much there is," Winter said, sounding concerned. "I _have_ been helping you in my spare time. But you're working yourself to the bone. It's not healthy."

Weiss closed her eyes again, and began rubbing her forehead, "I know, and I was just finishing up for the day."

"We both know that's not true," Winter said, prompting Weiss to open her left eye. Winter was still sitting there, her arms crossed, and her expression unreadable. "I know I can't stop you from exhausting yourself, I've tried for years, but even you know this isn't anywhere close to being healthy. Or did I hear the story about how you helped Blake your first year at Beacon wrong?" Weiss opened her mouth, but was cut off by Winter. "And don't even try arguing that this is different."

Weiss closed her mouth, and smiled weakly, letting her hand drop back to her side. "I know. It's not, I know." Leaning forward, Weiss entered a few commands locking the desk, and disabling the screen. "Were you planning on doing anything?"

Winter smiled, and nodded, "I was. I was talking with mom last night and we made plans to meet up for dinner."

"Think she'd mind if I joined?"

Winter nodded, standing back up, "I think she'd love to see you again, it's been a long time."

Weiss smiled tiredly, and stood up as well, walking over to Winter, who nodded again, and they made their way out of the office, across the empty secretary's office, where Winter picked up a coat off the desk, and into the elevator. As they rode the elevator down, Winter flicked upwards with her right hand. Weiss felt, and heard, a small glyph form in her pocket, and her keys flew out into the air, where Winter grabbed them.

"Don't want me driving?" Weiss asked, a weak amused smiled on her face.

"Considering I don't want to die in a car crash, no," Winter replied, a wry tone in her voice.

Weiss let out a weak laugh, "So where are we meeting her?"

"A nice restaurant just outside the Central Ring."

Weiss nodded, "And afterwards?" Winter just glanced over at her, clearly amused by the question. "Farraige then."

"Is it ever anywhere else?"

Weiss raised her hand to stifle a yawn before answering, "No, I guess not." Weiss looked closer at the glass in the elevator, her focus shifting from the view of the Schnee Dust Company's other building to her reflection, prompting her to sigh. Dark bags were forming under her eyes, with her eyes themselves being slightly bloodshot."You know, it's a lot easier to ignore exhaustion and overwork when you can't actually see what it's doing to you."

"Yes, well, after we're done with mom, I'm making sure you sleep tonight."

Weiss let out a short laugh as she pulled away from the glass, "I think you might be better served making sure I don't sleep all the way through tomorrow."

An amused smile came over Winter's face, "I can easily believe that. I remember father sleeping through entire days."

Weiss laughed, "Yes, and we'd claim innocence when he'd demand why we didn't wake him up."

Winter joined in on the laughing, "And he'd get so flustered wanting to punish us but he couldn't because he had no proof we were lying."

"Yes, so many times," Weiss said, her smile faltering as the laughter died down. "I think that might be my only fond memories involving him that I have."

"I don't know, I think there was one time he cracked a real joke," Winter said. "Now let's change the subject to something more pleasant, I think the talk of father's causing the air in here to cool."

Weiss smiled, "I can't even remember the last time I saw mom, the last few months have been a blur."

Winter nodded as the elevator doors opened. "I think it was before your current project began." Weiss nodded as they set off through the lobby.

"Oh, Miss Schnee… and Miss Schnee, I wasn't aware either of you were still here," a male voice came from behind them.

Weiss turned to face him, putting a hand up to stop Winter before she said anything. "Yes, Marrone, we were just leaving for the day. If there's anything, I'm sure it can wait until the start of your shift tomorrow."

Marrone bowed his head, "Yes ma'am." With that he turned and walked away.

"Well, at least I know you're not going to jump on every opportunity that presents itself," Winter said, beginning to walk towards the entrance as she put on her coat.

"I'll admit, I was thinking about doing that before I checked my reflection," Weiss said as they stepped out into the cold Atlesian air. Schnee Plaza was alight with white light from the numerous buildings that surrounded it.

Winter just shook her head, and the two of them walked between the two Schnee Dust Company buildings and made their way to the company parking garage, where Winter climbed in the driver's seat of Weiss' car, "Now come on, I'm going to be amazed if we don't miss part of the show."

Weiss climbed into the passenger seat, leaned it back, and closed her eyes. "And have mom chew us out over it? I think we both know you're going to be pushing the speed limit to get there in time." Winter didn't respond, and instead just began driving. After a stop, Weiss couldn't help but smile a bit as she heard the engine whine from rapid acceleration.

"Weiss!" Winter's voice cut through the air, causing the woman to jump in her seat as she woke up. "We're here," Winter added, an amused tone clear in her voice. Weiss nodded as she yawned into her hand and climbed out of the car. "Exhaustion finally coming over you?"

"Now that I've actually had a moment to relax, yes," Weiss responded as she stretched a bit. "And now I just want to stay asleep for a month."

"I don't think that's called sleeping, I'm pretty sure that's a coma," Winter said, beginning to walk away.

"Winter, I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it," a happy voice said to their right when they entered the restaurant. "And Weiss, I'm so glad you made it too." Both women looked over to see Scarlett walking towards them, her red hair greying, and a number of lines having appeared on her face from age.

"It's been too long, mom," Weiss said, hugging the older woman.

"Yes it has," Scarlett smiled as she turned and hugged Winter. "You look like you haven't slept in a week," the older woman said, turning back to Weiss.

Weiss smiled weakly, "I almost haven't, and I don't know if I'll be able to stay after dinner."

"If it's to go get some sleep, that's perfectly fine."

Weiss nodded, "Don't worry, it is."

Scarlett nodded, "Then I hope that means you'll be able to tell me what it is you've been working so hard on?"

Weiss smiled, "I think I can do that."

"Good, now let's get our seats, I reserved seating for three just in case you were able to come."

"Was there any doubt?" Winter asked, making Scarlet smile as she set off, the sisters following behind her. Before they made their way out of the lobby, Weiss used her Semblance to take her keys back from Winter.

* * *

"Welcome," Weiss spoke into the microphone clipped to the front of her clothes as she addressed the people seated in the auditorium of the Schnee Dust Company's headquarters. "And thank you all for attending. Today, is a truly great day for the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss couldn't help but smile as she paused for a moment, "and all of its faunus employees."

A small amount of polite clapping came from the crowd as she paused again. "For the last few months, I, with large amounts of help," she swept her arms towards the people seated around her, "have been completely reworking the rules and regulations that have allowed my family's company to blatantly discriminate through plausible deniability. Our new guidelines, set to begin taking effect tomorrow, will end this. The new guidelines will offer a transparency that will hold everyone accountable for any discrimination going on, and will guarantee protections and benefits for our mine workers that they've been denied for too long, and will rework all the hiring policies to disregard species altogether."

"Now," Weiss' voice changed to a more somber note, "I know that this won't solve every issue. Even we who deal with Dust cannot perform magic tricks, but I swear to continue my efforts to end the problems that persist and present themselves from now on. I will work until my family's company is known for acting as a champion of faunus rights, and its history of discrimination is nothing but a black smudge in the annals of history." As she sat down, loud applause sounded throughout the hall.

"And now you can sleep properly again," Winter said from her seat at Weiss' left the moment her sister cut off her microphone.

"I hope so, I could really go for that coma right now," Weiss answered as Blake stood from her seat at Weiss' right.

"Coma? I feel like I'm missing something here," Ruby said from her seat on Winter's other side.

"I'll explain later," Weiss said as Blake gave them a glare they all knew had no animosity behind it.

"Hello," Blake said, speaking into her own microphone as she turned back to the crowd, "my name is Blake Belladonna, and as everyone can see, I am a faunus." Blake paused as she took a deep breath, "I first met Weiss when we were placed on the same team at Beacon. Now, we definitely had a bit of a rocky start, but we managed to work together and bond, and I now consider her one of the best friends I've ever had.

"My story, however, goes back farther than just helping rework the company's policies. I've championed faunus rights for as long as I can remember, and, as a child, I was there at the front of the old White Fang's rallies in Vale, holding signs and calling for equality. I remained with them, fighting for the cause until I couldn't stand what they'd become, and it was then that I decided to become a Huntress, and met Weiss.

"And now, thirteen years later, I'm overjoyed with the progress the Schnee Dust Company has made since Weiss took over, and I look forward to seeing how it improves even further in the future," with that, Blake sat back down to polite applause from the crowd while Weiss stood back up.

"Now, we still have a long night ahead of us," Weiss said. "But for now, I think it's time we begin eating."

"Now you're talking," Yang said from Blake's other side. "I've been waiting for that since this whole thing began."

"You wait for that in every fancy event you go to," Weiss pointed out.

"And?" Yang asked as the food was delivered around the room. Weiss just shook her head.

"So, are we going to talk about that coma?" Ruby asked.

"She didn't say coma, she said comma," Winter said. "We were talking earlier about her needing to pause more while talking."

"Oh, that…" Ruby paused, looking even more confused, "doesn't actually make… all that much sense..."

Weiss let out a short laugh, "That's because for once you actually heard right, I did say coma."

"Oh… I'm still confused."

Winter shook her head, looking amused, "It's really not important at all. It wasn't serious."

"Good," Yang chimed in. "I do not want to have to deal with that, and the inevitable talks that come with it. It took long enough for the old Ice Queen's heart to melt, I do not want to think about having to put her on ice."

Everyone slowly turned their heads to look at her in disbelief until Weiss finally voiced what was on their minds. "From puns to wordplay, I never thought I'd see the day."

Yang shrugged, "What were you expecting, a riddle? I just said what came to mind."

"I think it has more to do with just how morbid that was," Blake suggested.

"No," Weiss said, "no, it has entirely to do with the fact that you're not normally one for something quite so… clever."

"Or long winded," Ruby added.

Yang huffed, "Oh, really then may-"

"Let's just focus on something else right now," Blake interrupted.

"Yeah, how about why Sun and the others couldn't make it," Winter suggested.

"Their mission got delayed," Blake shrugged. "Their mission to Valak Mountain wound up being more difficult than anticipated."

"Yeah, they probably ran into more Grimm than they thought," Ruby said right before taking a bite of her food.

"I wouldn't worry though," Yang said swallowing her own bite, "I doubt their prospects are all that 'Grimm'."

"And some things never change regardless of what happens," Ruby sighed.

"You are just being dark tonight," Blake said in slight bewilderment.

Yang shrugged, "I just work with what I'm given. I can't help it if one of them doesn't turn out to be a hit."

"Or none of them," Winter scoffed.

"So any plans for tonight beyond speech, speech, and yet another speech?" Ruby asked before Yang could try and muster up any kind of counter argument.

"For this," Weiss gestured towards the room at large, "no. For me, also no. After this is over, I'm going to do a quick trip up to my office to make sure everything that needs to be sent is sent, and then it's home to bed."

"I've got the same thing planned," Blake said.

Weiss smiled and held up her glass in front of Blake, "To sleep."

Blake let out a short laugh. "To sleep," she said as she raised her own glass before they both took a sip.

"...really? You're toasting to _that_?" Yang asked in disbelief.

* * *

"And you're sure?" Winter asked as she and Weiss stood outside the elevator.

"Yes, I'm sure," Weiss replied back. "It's not like I'm drunk, I can easily make it home."

Winter shrugged, "Alright, I'll check on you tomorrow then."

"You really don't trust me to take a break do you?"

"No," Winter answered simply as she started to walked off.

"You know, _I'm _the one who's supposed to be worried about _your _health."

Winter laughed without stopping. "Only when we were kids!" she called back as the front doors of the building openned.

Weiss shook her head as she stepped into the elevator, smiling weakly as the doors closed._ Sometimes I do wish we could go back to being kids and do everything right the second time around._

The ride from the ground floor to the top was monotonous, the normal distraction of the view of the other building and plaza ignored, and passed by without interruption. When the doors opened, Weiss was unable to stifle a yawn, instead just covering her mouth as she stepped out. The outer room was empty, and the lights were off. Walking through the room, Weiss opened the door to her office, and turned on the lights. She froze in place for a moment. Her chair, left facing her desk, was turned around to instead faced the large glass window overlooking Schnee Plaza. The occupant's legs sticking out from the chair, their feet resting against the window.

"Excuse me," Weiss said as she began reaching over to grab Myrtenaster from its display near the door, "just what do you think you're doing here?" The room's other occupant didn't say anything. "Say something, or be dealt with," Weiss growled out as Myrtenaster's chamber spun around, the distinctive sound filling the room. When no answer came, Weiss pulled the trigger on the rapier's handle, and generated a glyph in front of the end, a pointed piece of ice appearing within it for a moment before a searing pain erupted in the back of her head.

Weiss dropped to her knees, screaming out as she instinctively reached backwards with both hands to grab hold of her head. Myrtenaster hit the floor, the glyph disappeared, and the icicle that had formed from it dropped and shattered. Weiss could only scream more as the pain intensified and spread, not over her head, but within her skull until it felt as though her entire brain was being ripped to shreds.

"What's! Going! ON!?" Weiss demanded as tears of pain began falling freely from her eyes. Her vision, blurred from her agony, was filled with the legs she'd seen extending out of her chair. "What... are you... DOING to me!?" Weiss struggled to speak, her words mixed with cries of pain.

The last thing Weiss heard before the pain stripped her off all her senses was a quiet and sad female voice. "I'm sorry."

* * *

"How could you leave me!?" Weiss demanded, yelling at the top of her lungs as she held on for dear life to one of the claws of a giant Nevermore. She thought she heard Ruby's voice in the distance, but compared to the sounds of the Nevermore's cries and the beat of its wings, she had no way of knowing what the younger girl was saying, or if she'd said anything at all and she wasn't just hearing things among the cacophony. "Oh, no, no no no!" Weiss said, panic beginning to course through her as her fingers began slipping. "No, nononononoNOOOO!" she yelled out as she lost her grip, panic preventing her from thinking, and even robbing her of her voice after a moment as she closed her eyes.

A moment later, albeit one that felt far longer than it actually was, she felt arms catch her. Opening her eyes, she saw the blond haired boy from earlier, looking somewhat dishevelled but otherwise just as he'd been in the locker room. _Jeanne, no Jaune, I guess you _are_ good for something._

"Just... dropping in?" he asked. His tone was entirely unchanged from his earlier antics. Ignoring his continued attempts at flirting, Weiss glanced down, and her eyes widened in horror as she realized just how far off the ground they still were. Following Weiss' gaze, Jaune's expression quickly changed to one of abject fear, his voice matching. "Oh God!" Feeling a sudden and desperate need to hold on to something, Weiss quickly wrapped her arms around the boy. Jaune clearly felt the same way, or at least that's what Weiss told herself. "Oh, noooooooooooo!"

As they fell the rest of the way to the ground, Weiss had a moment of sudden mental clarity, and summoned one of her Glyphs to slow them down. However, the Glyph's effects were lost on Jaune as she felt herself break apart from him as he continued to fall unimpeded, their fleeting embrace dragging Weiss down as well. Mentally sighing as the two of them rapidly approached the ground, Weiss reoriented herself, and moments after Jaune struck the ground, she landed as well.

"My hero," she finally said mockingly as she examined her nails.

Jaune shifted underneath her slightly as he groaned in pain. "My back."

Standing back up, Weiss mentally sighed again, _Well, at least you _tried_ to act like a Huntsman for a moment there._ Turning towards the rest of the assembled group, Weiss began walking towards them as she heard Jaune struggle back to his feet behind her. Almost immediately, she saw her annoyance of a partner begin running at full tilt towards a Deathstalker that easily dwarfed her. Weiss could only shake her head as she saw the younger girl's attack bounce off the Grimm, knocking her backwards.

"Don't worry, totally fine!" Ruby called out before glancing back at the Deathstalker. With a quick shot, Ruby jumped and was pushed back several feet by the recoil, increasing the distance between her and her attempted prey. Quickly storing her scythe, the younger girl began running away back towards the group as quickly as she could, the blonde girl Weiss was sure she remembered as being Ruby's sister beginning to run to help.

The Nevermore Weiss and Ruby had ridden in on earlier clearly had other ideas, however. It cried out and began to launch its feathers at Ruby like a machine gun, one of them catching her cape and pinning her to the ground. Seeing the Deathstalker approach the pinned girl, Weiss reacted instinctively and grabbed Myrtenaster from her hip. She propelled herself towards the fray, reaching Ruby just in time. Stabbing the ground, she pulled Myrtenaster's trigger, causing Dust to flow through the blade while she generated one of her Glyphs on the ground to manipulate it upon contact. Large amounts of ice seemingly erupted from the ground, catching the the Deathstalker's stinger inches from Ruby's face.

"You are _so_ childish!" Weiss yelled out, a warm feeling coursing through her body. _Was that strike going to-_

"Weiss?" she heard Ruby say in a mixture of what seemed to be confusion and surprise.

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive," she stood up, turning to face her partner, "and don't even get me started on your fighting style, and I suppose..." she glanced to the side and mentally sighed. _And I suppose I haven't exactly made things easier on myself either. _"I can be a bit," she saw Ruby begin to flinch slightly, "difficult." She rolled her eyes as she said the last bit. Leaning down to make her next point clear, she continued speaking. "But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So, if you stop trying to show off, I'll be..." she stood back up, and glanced to the side again, not wanting to say the next word with every fiber of her being, "nicer…"

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this," Ruby said, her voice making it abundantly clear she was sincere.

"You're fine," Weiss admitted begrudgingly as she began to walk away.

She heard Ruby sigh in relief and whisper to herself. "Normal knees."

Weiss stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, _Please don't make me regret this already._

* * *

Weiss scrunched her eyebrows as she slowly woke up, only to jump when she felt something cold and wet press against her forehead. Opening her eyes, she saw Zwei standing next to her pillow. "What is it?" Weiss asked, feeling sleep fighting to take over again.

In response, Zwei whimpered, jumped off the bed, and ran over to the doorway before looking back at her. Weiss nodded, and slowly climbed out of bed as she rubbed her eyes. "Okay, I'll let you out, let's go," she grabbed her scroll, and opened the door of Team RWBY's dorm room. Zwei immediately ran out, sniffed the ground, and ran to the end of the hallway. Once outside, Zwei sniffed around again before turning back and barking at Weiss. "What, do you want me to follow you?" Zwei barked again, and began trotting away.

Raising one of her eyebrows, Weiss shrugged, and followed the small dog across campus, eventually walked behind the buildings. "Zwei, we've been at this for fifteen minutes, we're going to have to head back soon." Zwei merely barked again, and trotted off through what Weiss realized was the entrance to the Beacon graveyard. A morbid curiosity beginning to come over her, Weiss followed the corgi through the rows of graves, her eyes widening when she saw Ruby sitting on the ground in front of one grave in particular.

Ruby didn't notice as her partner walked up on the team plot, Weiss' eyes widened as she saw the name engraved on the grave Ruby was sitting in front of. "Summer Rose," Weiss said, her surprise causing it to slip past her lips. Ruby jumped and quickly turned around. Weiss didn't notice, and continued reading what else was engraved. "DNB. Deceased but Not Buried," turning to face her partner, she couldn't help but ask what was on her mind. "They couldn't bury her?"

Ruby shook her head, "She died while out on a mission. My dad and uncle never told me where she went," Weiss couldn't help but notice the light amount of bitterness in her voice, "any mention of it still makes them shut down a bit, but apparently they couldn't get her back to Beacon."

Weiss nodded slowly, sitting down next to her partner. "You and Yang never talk about your mother, I can see why now… well, at least a bit."

"Well, she's no-" Ruby shook her head.

"What is it?"

"It's not important," Ruby said dismissively, scratching Zwei's head.

_Somehow I doubt that,_ Weiss thought, but she didn't press the subject.

"So, why are you up?" Ruby asked after a moment. "And how did you find me?"

"Zwei woke me up," Weiss answered, tapping the corgi's nose playfully. "He also lead me to you. What about you?"

"I… I couldn't stay asleep," Ruby laughed emotionlessly. "Every time I fall asleep, I have a nightmare."

"So, you payed a visit to Beacon's cemetery?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "I mean, I've been interested in seeing it, but I don't think it's a really good place to visit to help with nightmares."

A small smile crossed Ruby's lips, "No, I just went for a walk, and I just kinda… found myself at the entrance."

Weiss nodded slowly, "So, what were you dreaming of that was keeping you up? The breach?"

"No," Ruby shook her head, "well, yes, but not exactly." She shifted around, causing Zwei to jump off her lap and into Weiss' while Ruby pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Then what?" Weiss asked, feeling somewhat concerned. Silence hung in the air for nearly a minute, while Ruby struggled to talk. "Come on, spit it out."

"It was… it was of the Grimm in general."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked while Zwei poked the younger girl with his snout, whimpering a bit.

"They terrify me, Weiss."

Weiss stared at her partner in disbelief as she processed what the younger girl had just said, "W-what? I've seen you slay dozens of them, sometimes at once."

Ruby took an unsteady breath, "Well, when I have Crescent Rose, I'm fine, but the thought of what would happen if I didn't have it…" she began shaking again.

"Well, I'm here," Weiss said quietly, put off by Ruby's demeanor, "Yang's here, Blake too. You don't have to worry about the Grimm blindsiding you-"

"That's not it," Ruby cut her off, sounding fearful. "I'm not afraid of dying, Weiss." She shook her head a bit, still staring into the distance. "I learned that when Yang and I were attacked when we were younger." Weiss opened her mouth but was cut off as Ruby continued on. "No, what I'm afraid of... It's everyone else…" she trailed off as tears began to build up as she stared at the grave in front of her.

"You've said before you became a Huntress to protect people," Weiss said, still trying to process what she was being told, "but… I'd never have thought… You don't want anyone else losing a parent don't you?"

Ruby nodded slowly. "When Uncle Qrow told me what happened, I was so angry at her for leaving," she took a deep shuddering breath. "That was my first time dealing with death. I had no idea what to think at first but…"

"But it died down?" Weiss asked as Zwei rested his head against Ruby's leg, letting out a sad whimper.

"That's the thing, it," Ruby swallowed, "it never died down. I'm still angry, just… not at her."

"W-what?" Weiss was taken aback by the venom that had entered Ruby's voice. Not that the young leader noticed.

"It's just… after what they did to my mom, I'm terrified of what the Grimm could do to anyone else I care about," she took a deep breath, glaring in the distance, "but I also hate them. I hate them with my entire being."

Weiss sat there for nearly a minute, not knowing what to say. She'd never in her entire life expected to hear Ruby of all people being the one to say these things. "Ruby…"

Ruby took a deep shuddering breath, "I'm… I'm going back to bed." Weiss opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say as her leader stood up and began walking away. Zwei didn't follow her, instead looking at Weiss and whimpering again. Weiss smiled weakly at him, and began scratching the back of his head.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Ruby said cheerfully as she sat down at the table the rest of her team was seated at in Beacon's cafeteria.

"Hey Rubes," Yang said in between bites as she continued to eat, her right hand was uncovered and still organic. "You got up late."

"Yeah, well I needed sleep after yesterday," Ruby shrugged as she began eating as well. Weiss looked over at her but didn't even try to say anything as the younger girl spoke back up, "So, anything happening because of that?"

"Ozpin's giving a speech in an hour," Blake answered.

"Ah, well, have any of you come up with any plans for after that?" Blake and Yang shook their head. "Weiss?" Ruby looked over at her. Weiss jumped a bit, but shook her head. "Ah, well, I've got a few ideas from my Best Day Ever Notebook. What do you think of messing with JNPR's room?"

"I think you should have made sure we weren't around to hear you suggest that," Pyrrha said from behind them.

Ruby jumped and quickly spun around, paling a bit when she saw all of Team JNPR sitting behind her, and paled even further when she saw the expression on Nora's face. "Oh, no I meant-"

"Good thing I know how to get to the kitchen's egg supply," Nora smiled mischievously.

"Do I even want to know why you know that?" Ren asked.

"What?" Nora asked innocently, "you said you'd make pancakes if you had some eggs."

"I didn't mean from the school's kitchen."

"Well you didn't say _not _from there," Nora pointed out as she turned back to Ruby, her innocent expression transforming into a terrifyingly cheerful one.

"No, no, no, no, no, please don't-" Ruby started up.

"Oh, it's_ far _too late Ruby. You so much as threaten to mess with the queen's castle, you feel her wrath."

"I'll meet you guys in the auditorium for Ozpin's speech," Weiss stood as Ruby began attempting to discourage Nora.

"Yeah, sure," Yang said, not taking her eyes away from her sister and Nora.

Weiss nodded, returned her tray, and exited the cafeteria and began walking towards the front of campus, pausing to look out across the horizon towards the city of Vale in the distance.

"Personally," Weiss jumped and turned around to see Blake walking towards her, "I had enough of this view yesterday afternoon when we waited around while Oobleck and all the other Huntsmen talked with Ozpin."

"Didn't want to stay behind and watch the show?" Weiss asked, looking back at Vale.

"I think I'll stick with reading over watching Ruby try and convince the resident crazy to not egg our room," Weiss let out a short laugh, "and besides," Blake stopped next to her, "you called me out when I got quiet and moody."

Weiss took a deep breath, "That I did."

"Is this about the breach?"

"No."

"Well, something's clearly weighing on your mind."

"Yeah, well," Weiss took a deep breath, "late last night Ruby and I were talking, and some of the things just won't get out of my head."

Blake nodded, "Well, I won't ask what it was about, if Ruby wanted me to know, she'd tell me, but it sounds to me like the two of you need to finish that conversation."

Weiss half smiled, "Yeah, I think you're right, thanks."

"You're welcome… and besides," Blake shrugged awkwardly, "that's what friends are for."

"I know," Weiss said turning back towards the main building, "I'm still getting used to it though."

"It's hard, isn't it?"

"It certainly is, how long have we got until the speech?"

"Forty-five minutes."

"Thanks, I'll meet you there," Weiss said, walking off. Thirty minutes later, she grabbed Ruby's arm among the group of students making their way into the auditorium, "I need to talk to you."

"What, right now?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Yes, right now," Weiss said as Yang looked at her inquisitively.

"Alright, will this be long?" Ruby asked as they moved out of the stream of students.

"I don't know," Weiss said honestly as they stopped in front of the school's airship docks.

"I think I had enough of this view yesterday," Ruby said looking out at Vale.

"I think we all did, but…" she took a deep breath, "I know what you mean about the Grimm." Weiss shivered a bit as Ruby looked at her confused. "I know that feeling about being just consumed with hate," Weiss turned back towards the horizon.

"Weiss, you don't have-"

"Yes, I do!" Weiss said, putting down the argument. "It's only fair, and I… I need to get this off my chest if only a little. "

"Okay…" Ruby said quietly. "What happened?"

"The Grimm took your mother from you," Weiss closed her eyes, fighting off tears, "but my father drove mine away."

* * *

"Girls, remember we're heading to Farraige in an hour."

"Okay mommy!" a ten year old Weiss said, looking up at the black haired woman standing in the doorway of the room.

"Again!?" Winter protested.

"Yes, Winter, again," their mother said cheerfully as she exited the room.

"But we go there all the time…" Winter pouted as she sat down.

"Oh come on, it's fun," Weiss said as she began heading towards the door.

"It is sometimes," Winter said, following her sister out of the room so they could prepare.

"Oh, you girls look beautiful," their mother said as they made their way out of their rooms dressed up for the night.

"Thanks mommy," Weiss said happily.

"So, what're we going to see?" Winter asked.

"A nice musical performance," their mother answered, her warm smile never leaving.

"Is daddy coming?"

"No, it's just us tonight." Winter smiled in response, causing their mother to sigh. "I know your father can be hard to deal with, but you have to try and get along with him."

"Why, he never tries to get along with us," Weiss said.

Their mother sighed, "When you're older, you're going to look back on this time and wish you'd been on better terms with him." Both girls nodded, looking skeptical. Their mother shook her head sighing, "Typical kid behavior, you'll see. Now come on, let's go."

The trio made their way into the living room of their home, only to see Eis sitting in one of the chairs, reading something on his scroll. "Oh, you're heading out?"

"Yes, Eis," their mother said in response, a forced smile on her face. "We had this discussion last week."

He nodded slowly, "I know." Without another word, he returned his attention to the scroll in his hand.

"Come on girls," their mother said, "we don't want to be late." In silence, the trio made their way out of the building, and into one of the family cars, whereupon Weiss and Winter's mother immediately began playing music.

"Is this one of the songs playing tonight?" Winter asked as their mother hummed along to the music.

"Yes it is," she said happily. "This is one of my favorite songs."

"What's it called?" Winter asked, beginning to pay attention to the piano notes.

"Mirror Mirror, right mommy?" Weiss asked.

"That's right," their mother replied as the first few lines of the song began, and they set out towards Farraige.

The moment they stepped into the lobby, they were accosted by a number of people.

"Oh, look it's the Schnees."

"Punctual as always."

"Why didn't you come with Eis?"

"Is there a reason why you didn't come with your husband?"

Weiss and Winter's mother just ignored them all, and led her daughters along, "Come on girls, let's get to our seats." Both girls held close to their mother as they made their way through the crowd, and to their private seats. As soon as the music started, a serene expression came over the woman's face which lasted throughout the night. "Now, wasn't that lovely?"

"Yeah it was!" Winter said happily as they made their way back into their car.

Their mother smiled warmly, "See, I knew you'd have a good time tonight."

"Can we hear them again?" Winter asked.

"Not until this time next year, right mommy?" Weiss asked, as she took her seat next to her sister while stifling a yawn.

"That's right," their mother answered. "Now let's go, it's getting late, and both of you need to get to bed."

"I don't feel tired at aaaaaaal," Winter said, yawning midway through the last word.

"Sure you're not," their mother laughed as Weiss closed her eyes.

Weiss woke up lying in her bed, her mother standing over her, "Mommy?"

"I was just putting you to bed, you fell asleep in the car," the woman said, kissing Weiss' forehead. Weiss nodded and closed her eyes. "I love you, Weiss."

"I love you too mommy."

Weiss then heard her mother exit the room, and the door closed behind her. "Did you enjoy your night?" she heard her father's voice come through the door.

"Don't even say anything to me, Eis," Weiss heard her mother say, anger creeping into her voice.

"You're the one who decided to leave," Weiss' eyes shot open and she looked at her door.

"As if you gave me a choice."

"You're saying you don't?" Eis asked, sounding somewhat amused.

Weiss' mother let out a grunt of anger and annoyance, "No, I haven't, not since it turned out the man I fell in love with doesn't exist." The next thing Weiss heard was the distinctive sound of her mother's beating against the floor that quickly faded. Weiss closed her eyes, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face until she fell asleep.

When she woke up, Weiss made her way out of her room, and immediately saw Winter looking around.

"Weiss, do you know where mommy is?" Tears immediately began falling down Weiss' cheeks. "Weiss?"

"She's gone…" Weiss said, her voice breaking.

"What do you mean?"

"She left," their father said casually, walking into the room.

"What, why?" Winter asked, looking between the two of them.

"She couldn't deal with things, and left," Eis shrugged.

"You don't even care!?" Weiss demanded, anger coursing through her.

"People come and go in life, it happens all the time," Eis said without emotion.

"But she was your wife!"

Eis turned and slapped Weiss, the impact knocking the young girl to the floor. "Only a fool gives time to those who are gone, and I have no time for fools. Now stop your sniveling, stand up, and go eat. You have Glyph practice today."

Weiss glared up at him as he turned and began walking away, her anger growing until she began shaking.

* * *

Weiss jumped awake and nearly fell out of bed as her ears were assaulted by the shrill sound of a whistle. As she settled down, she glared at her leader's grinning face above her in their Beacon dorm room. "I thought I got rid of that thing!?" Weiss yelled out in frustration.

"And I replaced it," Ruby said proudly as she removed the whistle from her mouth. Weiss narrowed her eyes further as she saw Blake walk out of their bathroom fully dressed in her combat gear. Grabbing the whistle from Ruby's hand, Weiss threw it out of the partially open window, and lay back down, closing her eyes while she did.

A moment later, another whistle blast came from where Ruby was standing.

Opening her eyes, another glare on her face, Weiss couldn't help but stare, feeling somewhat dumbfounded, at the second whistle in Ruby's hand. "You- But I- How many replacements did you buy?"

"Oh you know, five or six," Ruby said cheerily.

"Forty-two," Yang called out from her own bed, her eyes not leaving her scroll.

"Or that."

Weiss grunted, "We're not even fighting today."

"No, but Sun's team got moved up to the first match today," Blake said.

"Wait, what?" Weiss sat up as quickly as she could, "When did this happen?"

"Last night," Yang said, still not looking away from her scroll. "Blake got a text from Sun just before midnight."

"Now come on, get changed," Ruby ordered. Weiss sighed, and did just that.

"So, are we going to head out now or what?" Weiss asked a few minutes later.

"Just as soon as I find my scroll," Ruby said, looking around her bed.

"Right here," Yang called out, tossing her the scroll she'd been reading.

"Wait, how-"

"You didn't lock it last night," Yang shrugged as she jumped down, already in her combat gear, her right arm covered up in a long black glove.

Ruby grumbled a bit, but didn't say anything before motioning for them to head out.

"Did she really leave her scroll unlocked?" Weiss muttered halfway to the airship docks.

"No," Yang whispered back, sounding incredibly amused. "I've known her password for months now." Weiss nodded as she saw Blake begin to smile broadly and wave. A quick turn confirmed her suspicions as to why. All four members of Team SSSN were making their way towards them. "Hey boys," Yang called out as they got closer, "know who you're fighting?"

"No," Sun answered. "We just got pulled aside by that manic maniac of a teacher, Oobleck, outside our dorm building last night."

"Then we should get going and find out," Blake suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Sun replied as they made their way to the nearest airship, the teams chatting the entire way to Amity Colosseum.

"Good luck," Weiss said cheerily to Neptune as the teams set off in different directions upon landing.

"Thanks!" he called back.

"Yeah, just don't expect a hat-trick like Yang pulled off against ABRN!" Sage added.

"Or Nora's clean sweep against BRNZ!" Sun added while laughing.

"Them deciding to hold a team meeting in the middle of a fight is still the funniest thing I've seen happen in a _long_ time," Yang said, trying not to laugh.

"I'm definitely inclined to agree with you," Weiss said as they entered the stands.

"Honestly I think Port calling for someone to make sure the other team was okay after Nora's strike was funnier," Ruby added.

"Well it is a legitimate concern," Blake pointed out as they took their seats.

"I guess we get a chance to scope out the team we were supposed to fight," a female voice said from behind them. Glancing back, Weiss recognized the four members of Team NDGO.

"Which team were you supposed to fight?" Yang asked, not caring about them knowing she overheard.

"SSSN," Dew Gayl replied. "And I have to tell you, my spear was just begging to throw the green haired one out of the arena."

"Your spear is begging to throw everyone out of the arena," Octavia Ember added.

The team leader, Nebula Violette, shook her head, "So, you girls know anything about the teams?"

"Team SSSN's a bunch of dorks with at least two competent fighters," Yang answered.

"We don't even know who the other team is," Blake added.

Dew sighed, "Sounds like it would have been such an easy victory then, hopefully whoever Team CRDL is can put up a better fight."

"If you're looking for a challenge, I think you got the short end of that stick," Yang laughed.

Gwen Darcy sighed, "How much of the short end?"

"Pyrrha Nikos from Team JNPR yesterday beat them all four on one," Yang said as the teams took to the field. "I don't even mean she pulled off a power finisher like Nora Valkyrie did, I mean she fought them entirely on her own."

"Well, the fact that it was Pyrrha Nikos makes me feel a bit better about that," Gwen said bitterly. Yang couldn't help but laugh.

"Anyway, you four fought yesterday right?" Nebula asked. "Team RWBY?"

"That's us!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"I thought so, that was a really cool-"

"Now, let's start the second day of the Vytal Festival with a great fight!" Professor Port's voice boomed out over the speaker system. "And I must say, that I hope the new team match-ups can handle each other. On one side, we have the four man band of pure testosterone, Haven Academy's Team SSSN!"

"Has he even met Scarlet?" Yang asked sarcastically.

"Probably not," Ruby answered, sounding, and likely being, entirely serious.

"And on the other, Beacon Academy's very own Team AMBR!" Port continued. "What do you think Doctor, will our fair team be able to keep up?"

"Oh most certainly," Oobleck said. "I think we'll offer a great showing for all the viewers."

"Oh let's hope so," Port said. "Now, let's find out what our biomes are going to be for this fight."

Down on the arena, both teams looked around at the holographic displays around the center platform, except Neptune, who was looking at the three girls on the other team. "Alright ladies, remember, keep your hands above the belt." Sun looked at him, and just shook his head. Rosa and Mizu glanced at each other and giggled a bit while Amber gave him a wink with a cocky look on her face.

"Did he just…" Weiss trailed off in disbelief while Yang began cackling.

"Sounds like your boyfriend doesn't really care who's watching him flirt."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Weiss yelled back.

"Not anymore anyway," Yang said while she tried, and failed, to contain her laughter. Weiss grumbled as she glared down at the field as behind Team AMBR, the symbol for a Vacuo biome appeared.

"Really? The _one_ kingdom no one on our team's from?" Amber said incredulously as the artificial sun appeared over the sandy hills after it had risen up.

"That certainly sounds great to me, that's my turf," Sun called out.

"And it seems like neither team is paying attention to the water biome that just appeared behind Team SSSN," Port's voice boomed out. Neptune immediately turned around and froze in place as a sandy beach complete with water and beached ship rose out of the ground.

"Hey, man," Sun placed his arm on Neptune's shoulder, but he didn't react.

"Is he…" Rosa trailed off sounding confused.

"Afraid of the water, seems that way," Mizu said, sounding amused.

"So, are you going to go right after him, or toy around first?" Oobleck asked, readying his torch.

"You know me well enough to not need to ask, Barty," Mizu replied, readying her carbine.

"Now let's get started!" Port's voice boomed out over the stadium.

The moment the fight began, Neptune began rushing as far away from the water as he could.

"Barty!" Amber called out after a moment of surprise. Oobleck immediately began sending fireballs towards their retreating opponent before charging towards him. The fireballs missed Neptune by a hair's breadth as he jumped atop a ledge on the rocky outcropping. Turning around, Neptune began firing a return shot towards his approaching attacker, only to duck down behind what cover he could find as several bullets went whizzing past his position. Peaking around a corner, Neptune saw Mizu aiming towards his position. Taking quick aim, he fired a return shot towards Mizu, forcing her to dodge out of the way as Oobleck jumped up over him, his torch's flaming head aiming at the blue haired boy's chest. Oobleck went flying to the side before his attack could land, and hit the rocky back wall of Neptune's small perch.

"Ah, and it seems my attempts at an attack were thwarted!" Oobleck's voice boomed out.

"But I have to complement that shot from Scarlet David of Team SSSN," Port said as Scarlet set his pistol back on his hip as Amber walked towards him and Sage smiling innocently, her daggers still in their holsters.

Sage and Scarlet glanced at each other and nodded. Sage charged towards Amber and brought his broadsword crashing down on her. Amber vanished the moment the weapon made contact with her hair. Sage paused for a moment in surprise before being knocked to the side by a powerful slash. As he righted his footing, Amber turned and blocked Scarlet's cutlass with one of her daggers, the brown blade coated with a layer of stone. Yanking the blade towards her, Amber struck out with her second dagger, the tip of the blade striking Scarlet's stomach, knocking him backwards.

"And it seems Amber Erudite has already begun using her Semblance," Port's voice boomed out. "If I'm not mistaken, you have some experience with her illusions, Doctor?"

"Why yes, Peter, I do," Oobleck's voice called out. "Amber uses her Semblance to distract her opponents and catch them off guard. It's a tactic that can be very difficult to overcome even if you know what to look out for."

As Scarlet picked himself back up, Sage grunted and charged Amber down once again, his swing striking her in the back, only for her to disappear once again. As Amber reappeared behind him, a loud crack came from his side as Scarlet had quickly fired at her, knocking her out of her attack the same way Oobleck had been.

On the opposite side of the central platform, Sun swung Ruyi Bang in his left hand towards Rosa, the nunchaku swinging clear for the girl's head. Rosa quickly ducked out of the way, and struck out with the blade over her right arm. Sun sidestepped the blow, and quickly fired off a round from Jingu Bang before swinging the same weapon through the air. The blast from the shotgun just barely missed Rosa, but the swinging nunchaku caught her side, knocking her away while also chambering the next round for Sun to fire off. Quickly retaking her stance, Rosa put her arms together in front of her, using the Dust in her gloves to form a stone shield just in time to block Sun's follow up shot.

Rosa charged down Sun, keeping her rough shield in front of her, the thick stone blocking all of the boy's shots, and, when she reached him, she rammed him with the shield. As Sun recoiled back, she pulled her right arm away from the shield and punched through the block of stone, shattering it with the tip of her blade, a burst of wind from her fist sending the chunks flying at the other team's leader.

"And it seems Rosa Demure is making heavy use of her Dust," Port called out as Sun combined Ruyi Band and Jingu Bang into a staff, and spun them around to block the flying rocks at the last moment, "But Sun Wukong just won't let her get in a solid hit."

"No surprise here," Oobleck added. "I can attest that Rosa is no slouch in battle, but when you go up against a team leader, you're going to need more than just moxie."

Sun parried Rosa's next strike, knocking her electrified blade to the side by striking her wrist, and moved with the strike to sidestep Rosa's counterattack, her uppercut striking nothing but air. Sun immediately followed up with a powerful jab with his staff into her side. As Rosa stumbled back, Sun moved in to strike her again before jumping back as several bullets flew through where he'd just been standing. Rosa immediately rolled to the side to put more space between her and the air space being filled with Mizu's bullets.

Sun assumed a guarded stance as Mizu slowly moved to the side to keep him, and only him in her sights while Rosa shifted as well. Sun easily deflected Mizu's burst fire, however, he was also met with a short shock as Rosa grabbed one end of his staff. Sun tossed the staff into the air, and quickly kicked Rosa away before catching his weapon again and deflecting Mizu's next burst.

"And it seems that both team leaders are now fighting two on one," Port called out.

"And they both seem to be handling it well," Oobleck complemented. "And I also seem to be holding my own," he called out as down on the battlefield, he set a large swath of the hilltop alight. Neptune jumped over the flames, and brought his trident down onto the spot his opponent had just been standing. Oobleck, however, had quickly avoided the strike using his high speed, and struck out, striking Neptune's back. Neptune made use of his newfound momentum to roll on his side while collapsing his trident, and quickly assumed a kneeling stance while he aimed his gun. The brief charge up period before he could shoot quickly proved counterproductive as Oobleck was able to close the distance between them in an instant, and knocked the gun to the side, sending the shot flying wild. "Oh, it seems I'm lucky that there are barriers protecting the spectators."

Neptune spun around, quickly redeploying his trident, and knocked Oobleck off the mountain before shifting its form yet again, and assuming a sniping position, sending quick shots down towards Amber. However, when she didn't flinch to the electrical blasts striking around her, he quickly shifted his aim from where she appeared to be standing to a shimmering area from behind his teammates. From Sage and Scarlet's perspective, Amber came flying out of nowhere after Neptune's shot landed, her daggers flying to the sides.

"And it appears that Neptune Vasilias' vantage point has allowed him to see something neither of his teammates could," Port's voice boomed through the area. Amber rolled slightly upon landing and came to a halt upside down balancing on her hands. She paused only for a moment before pushing against the ground and flinging herself into the air and vanished from sight at the height of her inverted jump. Her vanishing act only lasted a moment however, as she reappeared upon dodging another of Neptune's shots. "And it appears that it has rendered her entire strategy useless!"

"Yes, an illusionist must maintain a steady mental image of their illusions if they wish for them to remain in play, even a momentary lapse can cause it to break," Oobleck added.

"Finally a break," Scarlet sighed out before attacking Amber, who was forced to dodge out of the way, not only of Scarlet's strikes, but Neptune's continued barrage. As she approached one of her daggers, Sage's broadsword came crashing down over it, forcing her to retreat.

"Not so dangerous now, huh!?" Sage yelled out as he swung at her again. His strike never landed, however, as he froze in place upon receiving a powerful electric shock from behind.

"Remember, she's not the only one with help," Rosa said as he fell to the ground. As Sage jumped back to his feet away from her, Rosa kicked Amber's dagger towards its owner, who deftly caught it, and quickly turned it on Scarlet, knocking him away before grabbing her other dagger, quickly sticking it back in its holster before pulling it back out, the brown blade replaced by one that was deep green. Before Scarlet could do anything else, Oobleck came in and struck out at him with his torch.

"Tell Mizu to start a firefight," Amber called out as Sage struck out again, catching her in the stomach.

"And we have our first one out!" Port declared as Amber's Aura level dropped below the line. As Oobleck began running Sage and Scarlet in circles, Rosa moved towards where Mizu and Sun were sparring. Both of them had their staffs out and were slowly circling around a central point. Mizu struck first, attacking from above, only for Sun to block the strike, repeating the action when Mizu tried attacking from below. Next up was Sun's own attacks, only for Mizu to block his strikes in return before they backed away and began circling again. The pair made no headway on each other, the fight only shifting in one way when a blast of wind sent Sun flying to the side as Rosa rejoined their fray.

"Amber wanted a firefight," Rosa called out. Mizu nodded, and quickly shifted her staff back to its carbine form and began firing up on Neptune's position. Neptune ducked behind cover, and the two began exchanging gunfire before Mizu felt herself knocked forward. Shifting around, she saw golden light fading around where she'd been as Sun lunged at her. He immediately delivered a powerful kick that knocked the gun out of Mizu's hand, and with a quick spinning strike, sent Mizu herself flying towards the water.

"Oh, I think the entire team may be quick to regret that decision," Oobleck called out. "Because it appears Ao Mizu has just begun using her Semblance."

Neptune quickly adjusted his aim towards Mizu, but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. Fear coursed through him as he saw the water begin swirling around her, following the flowing movements of her arms.

"Oh, that's not good," Sun said, catching a glimpse of what was going on from the corner of his eye without looking away from Rosa.

"Trust me, I know," the pink haired girl said before sending him flying towards the water with a gust of wind. As soon as he felt himself hit the water, Sun also felt it begin moving around him in unnatural ways. Standing back up, he saw the water swirling around him, matching the circular movement of Mizu's arms. His immediate thought was to get out of the water, but his path was cut off by a wall of water blocking his path and pushing him back into the middle of the pool.

"Neptune, could really use some help!" Sun called out as a whip of water flew past his head.

"Oh, you're doing fine!" Neptune yelled back as he turned his attention back to Rosa and Oobleck fighting Sage and Scarlet.

Mizu paused her attacks on Sun, and smiled mischievously. "Barty, Rosa!"

Oobleck and Rosa nodded, and they began moving to either side of their opponents, and with a quick strike, Oobleck sent Scarlet flying into Sage's back, and Rosa sent them both flying towards the water. Immediately, Oobleck moved over to Rosa's side, and swung his torch, Rosa jumping onto it, and, with the aid of a burst of wind, they launched her over to the water's edge as Mizu propelled herself out of the water. While Sage landed in the water with a large splash, Scarlet soared right over it, and was able to grab the side of the ship situated in the biome just as Rosa landed on the sand, her electrified blades penetrating the water's surface.

"And with a powerful shock sent through the water, Team SSSN sees itself lose two of its members in one move!" Port called out.

"It's a move I've seen both of them use multiple times," Oobleck added. "Large numbers of Grimm have fallen to that technique, and I feel honored to have helped out in using it to take down half our opponent's team!"

When Rosa removed her blades from the water, Mizu moved her arms, pulling a large amount of the water out, and held it around her as a large ring as she began walking towards Neptune. Neptune closed his eyes, and began firing wildly down towards her, none of the shots even coming close to hitting, much less deterring, her. The next thing Neptune knew, a huge amount of water struck him, covering his entire body and knocking him off of his vantage point.

Opening his eyes, Neptune pushed himself backwards as quickly as he could while still sitting on the ground as Mizu walked towards him, having manipulated the water into two spinning rings around herself at opposing angles. With a quick jab of her right hand, a blast of water fired out towards Neptune, who quickly moved to the side. Mizu then did the same thing with her other hand, attacking him again with another blast of water. Quickly shifting his weapon's form, Neptune swung wildly, cutting the outer ring of water. Mizu responded by knocking him away with a high power spray from the inner ring. When Neptune came to a stop, he shifted his weapon's form again, firing wildly towards the other blue haired combatant. Mizu responded by moving a ring to catch the bolt of electricity to keep it from hitting her.

Aboard the ship Scarlet was dealing with the attacks of both Oobleck and Rosa. When Oobleck rushed towards him, Scarlet ducked out of the way, and cut across his back, only to quickly sidestep Rosa's bladed punch. Quickly pulling out his pistol, he shot Oobleck off the side of the ship and into the water. Jumping down as well, Scarlet aimed the grip towards Mizu, and launched the grappling hook towards her, catching the back of her vest, and pulled her backwards, disrupting her attack on Neptune, and causing the water she was manipulating to fall to the ground, and coat her body.

Seeing the water fall away, Neptune's fear likewise fell away, and he pressed the end of his gun's barrel against Mizu's stomach, and pulled the trigger, the electricity coursing through her partially soaked body.

"And Neptune turns Mizu's own water against her to even the playing field," Port announced as Neptune began aiming towards the others, "And it seems he's about to make quick work of the others." As Scarlet jumped aboard the ship again, Neptune's shot flew through the air and struck Oobleck as he slowly stood back up.

"Ooh, that looks like something you'll still be feeling tomorrow, eh Doctor?" Port looked to his side. "Could we get someone in the announcer's box who knows how to deal with electrical issues?" he asked as he moved his eyes from his unconscious co-commentator back to the fight. "Well, this leaves the fight at two on one. Will Rosa be able to bring this back?"

Rosa struck out at Scarlet as he climbed back aboard the ship. However, her attack hit nothing, as he jumped to the side, and caught the railing behind her, allowing him to quickly jump aboard and attack her with his cutlass, catching her in the side as she turned towards him. The strike knocked her into the edge of the deck, where Neptune's last shot took her out.

"Apparently not," Port said. "In a well fought match, Team SSSN has achieved victory over Team AMBR!"

"Way to go Neptune!" Weiss called out, ignoring his earlier transgression.

"And the dorks win," Yang said, sighing. "I have to admit, that was intense, especially after the double knockout against Sun."

"Come on, let's head down and check on them," Blake said.

"Yeah!" Ruby yelled out, as she jumped to her feet before leading the way out of stands and outside the entrance to the battlefield.

"But seriously, way to go Neptune," Sage's voice reached them. "When the water field was selected, I was expecting you to be completely useless in that fight."

"Thanks, but it's not like I didn't have help," Neptune laughed as they came into sight, "and you took down their leader."

"Glad to be of service."

"Yeah, it was really good show out there," Blake complemented.

"So, what now?" Sun asked.

"If there's no other team you were interested in seeing fight, I figured we'd head down to the fairgrounds for a bit," Yang shrugged. "The only team left we really don't want to miss seeing in action is CFVY, and they don't go up until this afternoon."

"Sounds great, I could do with a good meal after that fight," Scarlet said.

"Then let's go!" Ruby called out, leading the way to the nearest airship.

"That was a wonderful comeback, Neptune," Weiss said, taking a seat next to him.

"Thanks, although I nearly lost it there near the end," he said before laughing awkwardly.

"You mean you nearly wet yourself," Sun chimed in.

"Oh come on, it can't have been that bad," Weiss said.

"You really don't know just how afraid he is," Sage said, sounding amused. Weiss just crossed her arms in a huff.

"It's fine," Neptune grimaced slightly, "the important thing is we won."

"That's true," Blake said, "so have you decided on who's going to the next round?"

"Yeah, you all did great out there!" Ruby said.

"Yeah, even if Sun didn't take anyone out before he was eliminated," Yang teased.

Sun just shook his head while Scarlet spoke up, "We're actually sending Sun and Neptune."

Yang smirked, "Yeah, I can't say I'm actually surprised by that, we even mentioned that the two of you were the best fighters on your team to your original opponents."

"You ran into our original opponents?" Sage asked as the ship touched down.

"Yeah, they sat right behind us," Blake said as the door opened and they stepped out.

"Oh, hey guys!" Jaune's voice caused everyone to turn. All four members of Team JNPR were standing around, clearly waiting for a ride to the colosseum.

"Did you miss the match?" Neptune asked, sounding disappointed.

"No, we saw it," Jaune said quickly. "We just couldn't get there to see it in person, but it was a great match."

"I'm sure Doctor Oobleck will congratulate you," Pyrrha said. "Well, once he wakes up."

"Yeah, you showed the old doc what you're really made of!" Nora yelled out. Ren just sighed and shook his head at her outburst.

"So, before you guys head up, you know any good places to eat in the fairgrounds?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, A Simple Wok's got a stand open," Jaune said, "their food's always good."

"Alright thanks," Neptune said.

"First we eat, then let's head back and see a few more matches!" Ruby declared.

"I thought all you guys cared about was CFVY?" Sage asked.

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't watch anyone else," Ruby said. "You know, check out the competition."

"Oh please," Weiss shook her head, "you just want to scope out the weapons. You couldn't care less about the other fighters."

"That's ridiculous!" Ruby called out, trying to defend herself.

"Not really," Blake shrugged.

"Yes it is! After all, not every weapon benefits from a scope!"

**A/N2: Alright, before we get to talking about Volume 3, I want to quickly address the deal with sections and arcs for this fic. Originally I had Chapter 10 listed as the end of the story's first Arc, but I've since gone back and changed that to instead be the end of its second section, with Chapter 4 being the end of the first. Now, the overall length of the fic is still the same as my original plan… actually, no, it's not, it's shorter. Revealing that there's more than just Blue and Brown Mask was something that I hadn't originally planned on doing until much, much, much later, but when I was writing the scene, it felt right. Now, this has had the repercussion of me mentally merging what would have been various separate Arcs (now called Sections) together while thinking of where things will go, and overall, I'm happier with the new plan for the fic, because it's much faster, which I think will help with the flow of things down the line. Now, that being said, the fic still has Arcs, although they're less like story arcs and closer to being more analogous to a season, or Volume since this is RWBY we're talking about. Now, every Arc will consist of three Sections, which means that this Arc is nearly done, and will, baring chapters being split up due to length, end in two more chapters.**

**A/N3: So, Volume 3. Yes, just yes. It is beautiful, it is amazing, and if I could find a way to incorporate everything from it into the (non)canon of this fic short of rewriting everything, I would. That being said, things I will definitely include (and have already retroactively edited in where available): Nora's Semblance (it being electricity related is something I **_**really**_** should have figured out on my own given that she's literally based on Thor), Neptune's hydrophobia (because of course he is, the entire fight scene this chapter was based on the fact that I just **_**really**_** wanted to weaponize it), Qrow's drunkenness (I'm not the best when it comes to portraying slurred speech in text, so you'll have to take my word for it in some points that yes, Drunkle Qrow is indeed drunk) Atlas Specialists (I already have an OC that's perfect for that, and even better, said OC has already been introduced in the fic), Winter being in the military (but of course… really wish I could say I called that, but you know, I kinda sorta admitted I figured she was an SDC employee in A/Ns a few chapters back), Huntsmen Academy heads being in a benevolent conspiracy to guard the unknowing public (again, wish I could claim I called that but everything I wrote that remotely looked like that already was coincidental), the Atlas government running their Huntsmen academy (I mean… that really does explain why Ironwood is in charge), and the summoning aspect of the Schnee Semblance (because that thing needed to be MORE overpowered. Calling it now, Weiss getting the hang of summoning is going to play a part in defeating Cinder), and a few other, smaller things.**

**A/N4: Things I will not include (but have given serious thought towards ways I could): Huntsmen and Huntresses being entirely freelance, not even bound by Kingdom allegiances (would kinda break my story without surprisingly large (yes, even among the obvious amounts, there's more) amounts of rewrites to incorporate entirely, although I am giving thought to incorporating parts of it, and I'll probably have that figured out and discussed in the next chapter's notes), Atlas being the Atlas Academy name and Atlas being the successor to the Kingdom of Mantle (I could actually do both of these things fairly easily since it affects my story in absolutely no way, but I want to know the story behind that first instead of coming up with my own explanation for this fic, even regarding the academy name. That is something I want to know the full canon story to and no theories, not even my own, if and when we learn that I will gladly edit that in), Winter being a Specialist (seriously, all that effing work to come up with a way to her get working for Albero (for reasons), and it turns out her canon counterpart was in the military already, and even in a perfect position for what I need given that she seems to work directly under Ironwood, and he is clearly heavily involved with and probably runs the Penny Project! I SERIOUSLY wish I could go "called it!" but no, that blindsided me, and my jaw hung open when that turned out to be the case. I do however, reserve the right to claim that I did it before it was canon… or you know, set up for it), and the very first thing in the entire Volume, Ruby already knowing the location of, and visiting, her mother's grave like a normal person who's lost a parent. I wanted nothing more than to just hug her at that scene.**

**A/N5: Things I will not include (because I don't want to): Uh… I'm drawing blanks.**

**A/N6: I want to talk about how overly complicated Winter's canon outfit is, because that's exactly what I dedicated the entire second paragraph of this chapter to describing. Granted, it's not as complex as outfits shown in plenty of other shows, but still, I had to keep the official, and labelled, concept art of her open the entire time I was typing the description out, and had to keep pausing to get it right. Bar the red stone in the clasp of the jacket being a Dust crystal (I made that up because it sounded like something someone from a family that runs a Dust company would do), the descriptions of things like her gloves being leather came from that. There are just so many little things. Also, I realized midway through that her outfit is basically a female version of Ironwood's (makes sense given ya'know she works for him! I'm never getting over that because of my efforts to get her to where she could play a part in my story and then canon comes along and reveals that she was already in a perfect position, and yes, I am incredibly bitter about that, why do you ask?), while also being annoyingly complex even though Ironwood's is actually fairly simple, because of course it is.**

**A/N7: Staying on Winter, I figured she'd be cold when she first showed up, and I'd hoped that she would care about Weiss, and I'm so happy that both (especially the latter) are true, and I'm really liking her canon version. I don't know if I'd want her to step on my face, but I do want her to appear a lot more, along with Qrow.**


	14. From Shadows I Burn

**A/N1: Well, once this is over, things will start making sense again, and I do have a purpose to these chapters. So instead I'm just going to say, oh my god, Episode 6, I… was not expecting any of that.**

**A/N2-P: NOTE: I've gone through with some massive editing due to Volume 3 having finished. If you've already read a chapter with this message on it, then go on, if not, for the most important change, see the last Author's Note for Chapter 4.**

Blake glared down at Roman Torchwick, who was lying on the ground, his head propped up against the bottom stair leading to the door out of the compartment of the train. Before he could do anything, she brought the tip of Gambol Shroud's blade to his throat.

"Oh, still feisty," Roman said, his voice never changing from its general mocking tone. "So, what are we gonna do now? Do you really think a little bow on top is going to make people forget what you were?" Blake could only glare down at him. His words ate at her but she couldn't let him see it. "What you've done?" With the last few words, his voice took on a menacing tone.

Before she could do anything to him, she heard the door behind her open. As she looked back, she saw Weiss fly through the open door way and bounce across the ground and roll a bit. The White Fang Lieutenant entered after her, his chainsword still on and ready to strike.

Blake looked back down at Torchwick. "So, what's it gonna be, Blake?" He asked. Without hesitation, she stored Gambol Shroud and kicked him in the head as hard as she could, knocking him out in an instant. Turning immediately towards Weiss, Blake ran to her, and knelt down just in time to catch the heiress as she passed out completely. Looking back up at the White Fang Lieutenant, she saw him begin to charge them down, his blade ready to strike. Knowing she couldn't win, Blake jumped away from him, bringing Weiss with her. The two of them landed near Torchwick's unconscious body, which proved to not be a deterrence.

The lieutenant caught up to them a moment after they landed and swung his chainsword sideways, only missing the two girls due to Blake dropping Weiss while using her Semblance to propel herself above the attack. Blake quickly used it again to propel herself directly at him, bringing her blade down on to his head. The lieutenant blocked the attack, and swung outward, pushing her back. Changing his target, he moved to bring his chainsword down onto Weiss' unconscious form, only to be stopped as Blake jumped under the attack, combining her Semblance with the Dust Weiss had given her earlier to stop the attack with a Shadow made of stone as she tackled the man, knocking him backwards.

A warmth spread through her body as the lieutenant stumbled backwards, his blade lodged in the statue as it fell to the ground. Grabbing Weiss once again, Blake jumped towards the door of the cabin, and moved out as soon as the door was open enough to let them through. Dropping Weiss on the small platform outside the door, Blake turned back and forcibly shut the door before pulling the magazine out of Gambol Shroud. Taking the fire dust cartridge into her hand, she triggered it to quickly melt the edges of the door to seal it shut.

Turning back to Weiss, Blake collapsed onto the ground as well and sighed. "I guess I..." she mumbled off into silence as she concentrated her Aura over her hand for a bit as she heard the sounds of the fight between Ruby, Oobleck, Zwei, and the White Fang continuing on overhead. Letting the dark energy on her hand fade, Blake pulled out her scroll and checked their Aura levels. Bar Weiss, all of their levels were near full. "And at least I don't have to worry about the others as much."

"What?" Weiss asked groggily as she started waking back up.

"The others all still have plenty of Aura left," Blake answered, standing back up.

"What am I at?" Weiss asked, stumbling a bit as she stood up as well.

"Decent," Blake said, glancing at the half full bar.

"Good, let's get mo-" Weiss' words were interrupted by the sounds of several gunshots from within the compartment they'd exited. Almost immediately afterwards, they were met with the sound of contorting metal as a large dent appeared in the door. A moment later, another dent appeared, and immediately afterwards, the door flew forward into the next train car as the distinctive appearance of Ember Celica stuck out of the doorway. "Yang?"

"Well, princess, you were certainly right about the Dust helping Blake, that White Fang guy was still trying to get his sword out of a stone statue of her when I showed up. Without it, he went down pretty easily," Yang said as she strolled out of the room. "So, how'd your fights go?"

"Badly," Weiss said bitterly as they began moving onwards.

"Unfortunately, the same here," Yang admitted as they exited the next car and saw Ruby jump over it.

Looking between themselves, the three of them nodded, and began climbing up to join their leader. What they saw when they did join her made Blake's blood run cold. The sealed end of the tunnel leading back into Vale was quickly approaching. "What do we do?" she asked, looking back at the others. Next to her, Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other, and the white haired girl spun around, and brought Myrtenaster's tip to the ground as one of her Glyphs appeared on the top of the train. Ducking down, the team was surrounded by a large amount of ice. _And if this works, you're already returning the favor,_ Blake thought the moment before her ears were met with a loud, concussive sound that blocked out all other sensation for a few moments.

When her senses began to return to her, the first thing Blake processed was the loud siren going off. Looking around, she saw rubble, then her teammates, and then she saw the buildings of Vale as people gathered around to watch. A moment later she felt the ground begin to shake before a large King Taijitu and numerous other Grimm emerged from the rubble.

* * *

"So, did your talk with Ruby help?" Blake asked as they walked out of the auditorium, the sisters having stayed behind to talk to Team JNPR.

"It did," Weiss walked on ahead before stopping. Walking up next to her, Blake stopped when she saw a glyph in the other girl's hand.

"What're you doing?"

"Oh," Weiss jumped a bit. "Sorry, I was just-" she stopped talking for a moment before continuing on. "There's an aspect of my Semblance I've had difficulty mastering, I thought I might give it another try."

"Right now?"

Weiss nodded, "Come with me, I still feel like talking with someone." Blake nodded, and the two of them walked across campus to a small enclosed area in the gardens.

"So, what is it you're trying to do with your Semblance?" Blake asked as the two of them took seats at a small table.

"Well, it's another effect of it," Weiss said as she held Myrtenaster out, summoning another glyph on the floor next to them. "I can manipulate forces, manipulate and control Dust flow, any Dust flow, although I have an affinity for Ice specifically, and I've even begun to distort time, but," she sighed out, "there's another aspect to it I've never been able to tap into."

"What is it?" Blake asked, looking at the spinning glyph.

"I can summon an eidolon of enemies I've defeated, or at least I should be able to," Weiss said bitterly.

"What?" Blake's head jerked to face her teammate. "How… How do you know that?"

Weiss sighed out and dismissed the glyph. "My Semblance is hereditary. My father, my grandfather, even my younger sister has managed it."

Blake sat back in her chair. "And here I thought you had enough to try and live up to."

Weiss laughed a bit and nodded, "Just another aspect of being a Schnee."

"I guess," Blake said. "But regardless, a hereditary Semblance is incredibly rare."

Weiss nodded again, "It's no more common in Atlas, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. My family, the Aos, the Vetros, we all have them."

Blake nodded, "So what made you decide to try and see if you could summon now?"

"Well," Weiss created another glyph, "well, while I was talking with Ruby…" she trailed off.

Silence hung in the air for several moments while Weiss just stared down at the spinning glyph. "What happened?"

"I had a realization of just how much I trust her."

"How much you-" Blake's eyes widened as she looked down at the glyph as well.

Weiss smiled as she dismissed the glyph, "But it seems it wasn't enough. Three out of four and I still have issues…"

"Three?" Blake asked in disbelief.

Weiss let out a short emotionless laugh while she nodded, "With my family, there's a lot of hatred passed around."

Blake nodded, "I guess if you hadn't had one already, then you certainly would have after the train crash."

"What are you, oh!" Weiss smiled, "I suppose yeah, I would, if I hadn't protected Ruby during our initiation."

"I remember that," Blake said, setting her arms on the table. "That makes perfect sense. Although, before yesterday, I'd never had any. But for a place to start, I suppose it's a good one."

"You…" Weiss' eyes opened. "That man in the White Fang knocked me out, you saved my life?"

Blake nodded, "It didn't hit me until after I'd sealed the door, but there was no mistaking the warmth."

Weiss nodded, "No, there's not." She looked to the side for a moment. "I have to repay-"

"No, you don't," Blake interrupted. "You're my friend, and I'm training to be a Huntress. You don't owe me anything."

"But I want to," Weiss said. "You saved my life, so I want to show you gratitude somehow." Blake laughed a bit. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, it's just," Blake let out one last giggle, "a few months ago the idea of you showing anyone gratitude would be laughable." Weiss' smile faltered a bit. "But that's in the past, and," Blake took a deep breath, "there is one thing I can think of."

"What is it?"

"What do you think the chances of Ruby or Yang being in our room are?" Weiss sat back a bit in surprise, her expression changing to one of light concern. "What? No! No, nothing like that."

Weiss laughed nervously, "Sorry, it was… just the way you said it. And we left them talking with Jaune, Pyrrha, and the others, so not likely." Blake nodded and stood. "Are you going to say what it is you want to hurry to our room for?"

"There… are just some questions I need answers for."

"O-okay," Weiss said, quickly moving to catch up with the black haired girl as she walked out of the area. "Whatever it is, I'm willing to answer."

Blake nodded, "I just want your honest answers."

"I swear I'll give you just that," Weiss said as they entered their dorm building. A minute later, the door to their room was closing behind them.

"I'm not going to ask you about the White Fang. I already know you consider it to be an insane terrorist group."

"Well… that's what they are," Weiss said, sitting down on her bed while Blake closed the curtains. "They blow up buildings, kill people, and just brought Grimm into Vale."

Blake paused for a moment, before turning to the other girl. "And what am I?"

"What?" Weiss looked up at her in surprise.

Blake reached up and undid the bow atop her head, exposing her cat ears. "What am I in your eyes? Am I a terrorist who got cold feet when she couldn't bring herself to go as far as the others?"

"No," Weiss said, looking at the floor. "You're someone who made some mistakes… maybe even a lot of mistakes when your world changed…"

"Weiss, look at me," Blake ordered, no, she pleaded. Weiss slowly looked up at her teammate, the girl's blue eyes lingering on the cat ears sticking out of Blake's hair. "What do you see right now? A faunus?"

"I see," Weiss' eyes moved back down to meet Blake's. "I see a friend," her voice was weak and somewhat unstable.

"Weiss-"

"I'm not going to lie and claim that things wouldn't have been different when we first met." Weiss took a deep breath, clearly to calm herself down. "If I'd known everything I do about you now when we'd first met, I would've thought of you as nothing more than some insane terrorist. I wouldn't have hesitated to tell the police, the military, or even all the Huntsmen right there at Beacon about you. The only thing that stopped me at the start of our twelve hour search last semester was Ruby and Yang." Blake nodded and sat down next to her. "But now… you're my friend. That's why I gave you the Dust yesterday. I'm still not willing to think anything more of the White Fang, but you are not the same as the people who blow up buildings."

Blake smiled a bit.

"What is it?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"I think that's the first time I've heard you refer to a group of faunus as 'people' even if it's the White Fang. No, especially since it's the White Fang."

Weiss smiled weakly as well. "Well, you, Sun, Velvet, knowing all of you's given me something I never had in Atlas." Blake nodded fighting back a smile, "So, anymore questions?"

"No," Blake said, looking away for a moment. "Just a request."

"What is it?"

"I…" Blake took a deep breath, and looked back at Weiss, "I want you to touch my ears."

"W-what?" Weiss asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Please," Blake requested, closing her eyes.

"Al-alright," Weiss said, clearly sounding unsure. Blake waited, eyes shut, as time passed and every second seemed to stretch on for an eternity. When she finally felt a light pressure on the tip of her right cat ear, Blake recoiled back instinctively. "Sorry!" Weiss said as Blake felt the weight on the bed shift as the other girl pulled back.

"No," Blake took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, "please, do it."

If Weiss had nodded, Blake didn't see it, instead she just waited there in darkness as Weiss shifted back into place, and a few moments later, Blake felt Weiss' touch again, and she recoiled back again, but not as strongly, and when she felt Weiss' hand on her ears a third time, she held her ground.

"And you're fine with me doing this?" Weiss asked, uncertainty clear in her voice as she moved her hand over the side of Blake's ear.

Blake nodded, and opened her eyes to see Weiss sitting there, her left arm hanging a foot off the bed between them, having pulled back when Blake had begun nodding. Looking the other girl in the eye, Blake began shaking a bit. "I did that because," Blake looked away for a moment, and smiled "because I needed to know how much I trust you. Letting you do that… it's been a long time since I've let anyone do that." Weiss nodded as Blake stopped shaking.

* * *

Blake grunted as she slowly woke back up in a chair. A moment passed before everything came rushing back to her. When it did, her eyes flew open as she instinctively tried to stand, only to find herself bound to the chair she sat in.

"Ah, you're awake," a gruff voice reached her from behind. Looking back she saw the White Fang Lieutenant standing behind her. "Good, we still have work to do."

"If you think you'll be able to get me to come back to the White Fang, you're horribly mistaken," Blake growled.

"Oh, I'm not trying to convince you," the lieutenant spoke, moving out of her range of vision. "If it were up to me, you wouldn't be treated any different than any of our other traitors."

"So dead then," Blake said, her anger obvious even though her voice was calm.

"And left out for the police to find somewhere," he answered, either oblivious to, or uncaring of, her anger.

"So what's stopping you?"

"Adam doesn't want to give up on you," he answered. "He wants you alive when he arrives at the end of the week. Although he didn't say what state you had to be in beyond that. So I figured I'd see just how high the Huntress in training's pain tolerance is," as he said the last few words, he moved in front of her. Blake could only glare at him as he pulled back his fist. A moment later, Blake's head was knocked to the side by a savage punch. Her Aura flashed through the room as it blocked the strike from harming her, if not stopping the sting from the impact itself. Not giving in to the attack, Blake glared back at him.

"Let's see now," he laughed a bit, seeming to enjoy her glare as he held up a scroll. "I have to say, I'm happy the Aura meters come up automatically now," he said, tilting the screen to show her her own scroll's Aura display. Her Aura was mostly filled, the punch having shaved off a small, if not insignificant, amount. "And it seems like I can keep this up for a while." Tossing the scroll back, Blake heard it hit the ground just as her vision was filled by his fist. Blake's head flew back from the impact. Without her Aura, it would have easily broken her nose, and possibly even part of her skull. Before she could even recover from the first blow, a second caught her under the chin, knocking the chair backwards.

"Maybe I should have bolted that to the floor," the lieutenant laughed as he picked the chair back up. "But oh well, I can hold you well enough," he said as he removed Blake's bow from atop her head, dropped it into her lap, and grabbed the hair between her cat ears for leverage before he struck her throat. Even with her Aura, she couldn't breathe for a moment, and she felt her hair tug against her scalp, countless points of pain melding together. His next blow was into her stomach, causing her to lose even more breath.

"What's the matter?" he asked amused as she grunted out from the attack and gasped for breath. "You should be happy this is all you're getting for punishment for leaving us," he struck again, "for attacking your own kind," he delivered a third strike, "for allying yourself with a _Schnee_," his last word was filled with pure malice. "Indeed you should be lucky. You betrayed the White Fang," he let go of her hair and punched the side of her face, "you betrayed your race," another blow, "you betrayed your entire species!" Unlike the previous blows, the pain from the last punch stayed with her as her Aura levels fell. The White Fang Lieutenant laughed, "Looks like I've started to actually deal a little damage. Now the real fun begins."

He delivered a powerful blow to her chest, directly above her heart. Her Aura flashed as it stopped the strike from dealing any major damage, but it wasn't strong enough to stop the attack from harming her at all. She gasped for breath once again as pain radiated outward from her chest. As she inhaled deeply, a second punch struck her abdomen. As she coughed out and struggled for breath, he moved to the side, and pulled out a knife.

"Bruises heal and vanish," he growled out, "but I'll leave you with something that won't go away." Blake gritted her teeth as she felt the blade pierce her skin. When she felt it begin to be dragged across the top of her forearm, she cried out from the pain. Her torturer laughed out in morbid entertainment as she felt the wound begin to slowly heal from what little Aura she had left. "Let's stop that shall we," he said, repeating the process. Blake shook as the incredible pain shot through her, and when he finished, he let her arm hang there, letting her blood run down it.

Blake glared at him, animosity, anger, and hatred flowing through her as he began putting the knife away and she felt the warmth of her blood envelop her arm. As she began shaking, he took a step back, and looked at her scroll. "You hate me don't you?" he laughed out as he stepped forward, and grabbed her right arm and pulled it towards him. "Good. I want you to hate me as much as you fear Adam." The wound on her arm was healed, but a light line was running down its blood covered length. "But this isn't near enough of a reminder," he said, taking the knife out again, beginning to cut her arm yet again. As her Aura drained, and her blood spilled out again, Blake felt her vision begin to blur as pain shot through her, and the last thing she felt was her right arm drop back to her side.

* * *

"Adam!" Blake yelled out as she ran into the caboose of the train heading through the forest of Forever Fall. Yang was right behind her, Ember Celica already deployed.

"Hello, Blake," Adam said, looking out the back of the train car. "If you've made it to me, my love, I take it to mean the rest of the train is cleared out."

"Yes it is," Blake said, holding Gambol Shroud out. "The others are working on stopping the engine and there are Bullheads full of Huntsmen on their way here now."

Adam nodded, turning around. "I'm not surprised. I knew waiting in the opposite end you were expecting to find me in would only delay your arrival so long."

"So are you just going to come quietly?" Yang asked, entering a guarded stance as she did.

Adam smiled menacingly as he set his hand on the sheath of his blade, "I think we all know that's not going to happen."

"Yang!" Blake called out as Wilt flew out of its sheath. Yang recoiled backwards as the blade flew away after having struck her gauntlets. Blake struck out at him as he rushed forward. Adam quickly sidestepped the attack and grabbed Wilt out of the air and slashed towards her back. However, the attack missed its mark as Blake dodged the blow, leaving behind a Shadow made of fire.

Adam was blasted back by the resulting explosion as Yang fired a shot in his direction, knocking him even farther back. Adam landed on his feet and rushed forward again, striking out with Wilt at where Blake stood. Blake dodged out of the way, but Adam had feinted and the blade missed the Shadow left behind and turned towards Yang, firing Blush at her. Yang was knocked backwards by the gunshot as Blake struck out at Adam's back. Adam rolled out of the way and fired towards Blake as well before striking out once again with Wilt. Blake avoided both attacks and took up a stance next to Yang while Adam resheathed Wilt once again, now standing near the door to the previous cars.

Collapsing Gambol Shroud's blade, Blake fired towards Adam, who drew out Wilt and deflected the bullets. As he resheathed his chokuto, Yang rushed forward, and struck out with her fists. Adam dodged the attacks and assumed a guarded stance, avoiding every strike sent his way before knocking her back. Grunting out, Yang pulled back her arms to fire the gauntlets' built in shotguns.

"Yang wait!" Blake called out as she fired both of them. Adam pulled his own weapon in front of him and revealed Wilt, blocking the attack. The dual explosions only extended out a foot before seeming to be drawn into the blade as Adam resheathed Wilt once again. His hair along with every red detail on his outfit and mask were now glowing bright red, and when he knelt over, they could see the entire pattern on his back was as well.

"Get behind me!" Yang called out as she started to guard herself. Blake only just made it behind her partner when Adam attacked. The full power of Yang's explosive shots tore through the air with his swing. The sides of the carriage shattered from the force, and Yang was knocked back from the force striking her weapons.

"We need to get up!" Blake yelled out as the floor began to give way, and the entire back half of the caboose began to disintegrate.

"Right!" Yang yelled out as Blake propelled herself off of one of her Shadows to reach the roof. Following behind her, Yang fired both her gauntlets backwards as she jumped, using the recoil to launch herself higher. As a part of the roof gave way beneath her as she flew, she fired a second pair of shots downward, likely at Adam.

"Normally he doesn't use his Semblance after only that much energy," Blake said as Yang landed next to her.

"He must have figured destroying the car was worth it," Yang said as Adam landed on the roof as well.

"Always a thorn in my side!" He yelled out as he reached down towards his weapon with his left hand. "You should have learned to stay out of my way when I took your arm!" Before he could do anything, Yang struck first, firing a shot towards him. As he rolled out of the way, her shot hit its mark, shattering the roof beneath his feet, causing him to fall.

Blake rushed to the edge and looked down. Adam was holding onto a board just barely attached to the rest of the roof, and she froze. _He's caused so much pain, he cut off Yang's arm, he- NO, there are Huntsmen on the way, we can bring him in, if I let him die, then I wouldn't be any better than he is. _Extending her arm down, she couldn't reach him, even when she lay down.

"Blake, he's too dangerous!" Yang called out as the sounds of gunfire went off behind them. Glancing back, Blake saw a few White Fang soldiers that had regained consciousness climbing on the roof of the car behind them, a few already firing, using their numbers to push Yang back. Looking back at Adam, Blake saw him struggling to reach her hand. Blake closed her eyes for a moment before pulling her arm back to grab Gambol Shroud and help her partner.

"No!" Adam's rage filled voice filled the air a moment later, causing all the combatants to stop and look back at Adam's body as it bounced along the track like a rag doll. Blake dropped to her knees as she saw his body contort in ways impossible for a still living body as a deep chill coursed through her body, extinguishing all warmth she felt for a brief moment that seemed to last for an eternity. Her sense of time only returned to normal as she heard the distinctive sound of Ember Celica firing. Looking back, Blake saw most of the remaining White Fang soldiers laying down their weapons in defeat, and the few who still fought were quickly defeated by Yang.

"Blake?" Yang asked looking at her, sounding, and looking, concerned. "I know you didn't want Adam to die, but-"

"It's my fault…" Blake said, her voice dull.

"You couldn't have saved him," Yang tried to reassure her as she knelt down in front of the black haired girl. Bullheads were approaching from the distance.

"Yes I could," Blake's voice was anguished. "I saw it! He was preparing to leap for my hand, but I left him there. I'm no better than he was!"

"You didn't have a choice-"

"Yes I did!" Blake yelled out. "I could have stayed. I knew you could fend them off long enough to. He was weaponless, and the others were on their way to take him in, but I chose to leave and… and now I feel so cold," tears began falling down her cheeks. Yang didn't say anything. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around Blake, who continued to cry into her partner's shoulder, Yang's natural warmth failing to penetrate the coldness she felt in her chest.

* * *

Blake shifted around a bit, feeling comfortable in bed for a few moments.

"Ah, you're awake," Ozpin's voice startled her. Blake's eyes shot open. She was lying in one of Beacon's hospital rooms. "You've been unconscious for a while." Blake closed her eyes as the memories began flowing back to her. "One of my students being captured by the White Fang," Ozpin's bitter voice caused her to open her eyes again. "Blake, I must apologize to you. I didn't expect them to still be this brazen after their recent losses."

"Professor," Blake shifted a bit before grunting with pain.

"Don't move too much right now," Ozpin said. "You don't have any major underlying trauma, but your Aura is still recovering, so your wounds haven't healed." Blake held up her right arm, which was covered in bandages. "Yes, that will scar, I believe the doctors said to expect it to be rather bad as well, but that should be the only lasting mark once your other injuries heal."

"Okay," Blake said weakly as she settled back down before her eyes widened. Quickly reaching up, Blake felt her bow on top of her head.

"Ah yes, your friends took it upon themselves to replace that after calling for emergency transport. Since you weren't in danger of dying, you were brought here instead of somewhere else and I made sure the nurses and doctors didn't remove it."

"Thank you," Blake said, her eyes beginning to unfocus as she began to think.

Ozpin stood, "I may not agree with hiding what you are, but I will continue to respect your decision." Blake nodded again, not looking at him. "Now I think your friends might like to see you," he said as he opened the door, causing the other members of Team RWBY to fall into the room.

"Is she awake?" Yang asked as she jumped back to her feet.

"She is," Ozpin answered as he left the room.

"How are you?" Ruby asked as they gathered around the bed.

Blake smiled, "I could be better."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, Weiss and Yang have told me what happened." Blake looked to the side and clenched her fists. "I knew there were a lot of bad people in the White Fang, but I never thought they'd resort to…"

"Ruby, let's talk about something else," Weiss suggested.

"No," Blake said. "What happened? How did you find me? Ozpin said you were the ones to call in the transport."

"We caught a glimpse of the ones who took you and followed them," Yang said. "We had to fight our way through the building. Unfortunately we couldn't get to you in time to stop, well…"

Blake nodded, "Alright. So wha-, Wait! While he was torturing me, he mentioned that Adam was going to be back in the city at the end of the week."

The others' eyes all widened in shock at the revelation. "I'll go tell Ozpin," Weiss said, making her way to the door quickly.

"Yeah, I'll go too," Ruby said, following her and leaving Blake and Yang alone in the room.

"Let's hope that info will help us end this," Yang sighed as she pulled over the chair in the room to the side of the bed. "You're so busted up," she shook her head as she sat down, her face making it clear she felt responsible. "I'm sorry."

"First Ozpin now you, there's no need to apologize," Blake said. "I'm just happy you found me at all." Yang nodded weakly. "How's everyone else? Do they know?"

"Jaune and them know, so do the teachers obviously, but with it being between semesters at the moment, the rest of the school doesn't know, and we haven't stopped to call and tell Sun and his team yet. Only reason Pyrrha knows is because she hasn't left for Mistral yet."

"Sun and Neptune and the others'll need to be told soon."

"Let's wait until you no longer look like a train hit you first," Yang said, brushing some of Blake's hair to the side with her right hand, which was uncovered, and still entirely organic, causing Blake to giggle a bit. "So, how do you feel beyond just 'could be better'?"

Blake sighed. "If I don't move, I have enough Aura to numb the pain and feel fairly comfortable."

Yang nodded, "I can understand that."

"You've been beaten up enough I'd hope so," Blake pointed out.

Yang smiled weakly, "Yeah, I also know I'd prefer just getting more sleep while I'm waiting."

Blake smiled, "That sounds nice right now."

"Alright," Yang stood, "just one thing first." She knelt down, pressing her lips against Blake's. The two of them kissed for a long moment until Yang broke away. The blonde girl then walked over to the door before pausing and looking back. "I'll be back tomorrow if you're not out."

"Alright," Blake said, both weakly and happily, as she closed her eyes.

* * *

"Blake? Blake!" Weiss' voice cut through the air, making Blake jump and look up at the other girl. "You were staring at your arm again."

Blake sighed as her eyes drifted back to the line running down the top of her right arm. While her black ribbon covered it up partially, it was far from inconspicuous. "Every time I see it, or feel it, I'm back in that room," she said, gritting her teeth.

"I can't exactly blame you," Weiss said lightly. "What you went through must have been horrible."

Blake laughed weakly, "It's not like that. Nothing else sends me back, not even being punched in the face while sparring with Yang, and it's not a panic attack. It's just this… reminder on my arm that it happened at all."

Weiss sighed, "Well, it's definitely a good thing you're not traumatized, and it took me forever before I could look at myself in a mirror again after… well I know what you mean." Blake scrunched her eyebrows and looked over at Weiss, but before she could say anything a distinct noise filled the area.

"Blake!" Nora yelled out. Blake couldn't help but smile as the hyperactive girl approached them. "How are you? Do you feel healthy? Your arm isn't infected is it? Because I once cut my leg and it got like _really _swollen, and Ren had-"

"It's fine, Nora," Blake cut in. "I'm perfectly healthy."

"Where's the others?" Weiss asked.

"Oh those slow pokes?" Nora asked as she waved her arm dismissively. "They couldn't keep up so I just left them at the airship."

Glancing at each other, Weiss and Blake stood, exited the enclosed area of the gardens they were in, and began making their way towards the airship docks. Halfway through the gardens, they heard talking coming from close by. "Is that you guys?" Blake called out as they rounded the corner and came face to face with them.

"Yeah it's us," Yang answered.

"It's good to see you're alright," Jaune said, hugging Blake for a moment before he let her go and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, sorry. We, uh, we hadn't gotten any updates on how you were doing until we got back on campus."

"It's alright," Blake said. "Let's just head back."

"Alright," Jaune said, letting them lead the way.

"How have the four of you been?" Weiss asked.

"We've been busy," Ren answered. "Although not quite in the same way you have."

"Hey," Yang said. "We weren't planning on fighting the White Fang, it just happened."

"Yes, but you seem to run into them quite a bit," Pyrrha pointed out. "This is hardly the first time you've been injured because of them. This is also hardly the worst you've been injured."

"Yeah, well, we kinda run into them a lot," Ruby said, tapping her fingers together.

"Well then let us bust some heads and break some legs with you!" Nora called out.

"Well, that's hardly necessary," Weiss started up.

"We've already discussed this," Pyrrha cut in.

"Yeah, we may not know why you're so adamant in taking them on yourselves, but you are our friends," Jaune explained. "So before you go get yourselves hospitalized again, let us help you."

"I'm fine with it," Ruby said, looking at her team. "What do you say?"

"I think Blake should be the one to decide on this," Weiss said, looking over at the black haired girl as she said it.

Blake looked around at the seven people gathered around her. "There are a few things you need to know first."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked.

"Blake that's-" Yang started.

"I know, and I'm sure," Blake said looking at Team JNPR. "You are our friends, my friends, so you should know the truth."

"The truth about what?" Jaune asked.

"About my time in the White Fang."

All four members of Team JNPR stared at Blake. Jaune's mouth was hanging open, Pyrrha looked conflicted, Ren looked surprised, and Nora looked like she was still waiting for Blake to say something.

"I guess we should go sit down before you say anymore," Ren said after a few moments.

"That might be a good idea," Ruby laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah…" Jaune said. "We… definitely need to hear more before, uh, we make any plans of what to do."

"Oh I'm sure it won't change our plans in the slightest," Nora said happily.

"See, Nora's got the right attitude," Yang said, turning to her. "Once we start searching around, I know a club you'd love to see."

"Yeah, and then we can get some payback on the guy who hurt Blake!"

Weiss looked back at Yang, "Well, we can't really do that."

"Nonsense! I'll take Magnhild to him and make him wish he'd never hurt her."

"No, she meant you literally can't," Yang paused for a moment. "He's dead."

"How?" Pyrrha asked.

"I underestimated how much stronger I'd gotten than him since our last fight," Yang said uneasily.

"We both did," Weiss added hastily. "His Aura couldn't handle it."

"Let's just cover one thing at a time," Ren said, glancing between Weiss and Yang.

* * *

Yang stretched her arms out above her head, yawning a bit. "Such a beautiful night out."

"It is," Blake agreed as she leaned back in her chair. They were sitting in the outdoor seating of a restaurant near the southern edge of Vale's commercial district, the river separating it from the residential district visible between the buildings across the street.

"So, how are you doing?" Yang asked as they picked up their menus.

Blake sighed, "Honestly… I'm ready for classes to start up again."

"Yeah… I'm not."

Blake laughed, "I'm fully aware you're not. You and Ruby never are."

Yang smiled as she put her menu down "True. If the waiter comes by, I'm getting what I normally do, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Alright," Blake said, not looking up from her own menu.

"You know," a girl's voice said as a chair scraped across the ground, "I could honestly do with classes again too." Putting down her menu, Blake glared at the newcomer to the table. She was about the same age as her, with black hair with an orange stripe on one side. "And I must say, nice revision you've got going on here."

"Could you please leave," Blake said civilly.

"And I can't really blame you, Blake," the girl continued on, leaning back in her chair. "If I could ignore some of the things that have happened to my old teammates and replace my memories of all my dates with my exes with my husband, I would."

"What are you talking about? How do you know my name?" Blake stood up, glaring down at her.

"Although, I think we can both agree that revisionism is a terrible thing," she said, waving her arm through the air.

"If you don't tell me what it is you're-"

"Sorry I left you like that," Sun's voice came through the air. Blake looked over and saw the blond boy walking back to his seat. "I just got a call from Mistral, the rest of my team can come for the remainder of the break, isn't that great?"

"Of course it is," Blake heard herself say. Looking down, she saw herself sitting in the chair she'd just stood up from. "I haven't seen them since the last Vytal Festival."

"Hard to believe it's been nearly a year," Sun said. "Let's hope next time won't be for similar reasons."

Blake smiled, "Next time should be in Vacuo for the next festival."

"That's true, so let's just hope that ends better than the last one."

"What's going on!?" the standing Blake demanded, looking over at the other girl.

"You don't remember this?" the girl asked, an innocent expression on her face.

"Of course not! Sun is my friend, not my boyfriend."

"I don't know, looks like the two of you are having fun," she said.

"Let's see, anything you want to know about my teammates before they show up?" Sun asked.

The Blake sitting down shook her head. "You're talking to the wrong girl if you want to gossip."

"Nonsense, you loved hearing about Neptune being afraid of water."

"No, I loved the story you were telling. You just had to stop midway through it and explain that so it made sense."

The standing Blake looked back at the girl, who shrugged, "Ah, well, I had no idea that was coming, but hey, all relationships have bumpy moments."

"Amber, I don't-" Blake stopped. "Wait, how do I know your name?"

The girl smiled, "So the memories are surfacing. Perfect."

"I've never seen you before, how could I have memories of you!?" Blake demanded.

"Well, you are half right," Amber said, standing. "You've never seen me like this, and while I do miss being this young," her body shattered into countless small gemstones that struck the ground and vanished, causing Blake to jump a foot backwards. In the teenage girl's place was what was clearly the same woman around two decades older, "it probably won't do for this."

"No, I've nev-" a searing pain coursed through Blake's skull, bringing her to her knees.

"Now, for the lecture today, I have a special guest," Oobleck's voice rushed through the Beacon lecture hall as he rushed around preparing a few things last minute at his desk.

"I swear if it's another ancient historian he contacted at one of Vale's museums, I'm going to try and sleep through class this time," Yang said. "Those guys manage to be worse than Port at times."

"Ah, yes, Peter never was good at lecturing, even when I was a student," Amber said, sitting on the desk for the row of seats behind Team RWBY, Blake sitting next to her as well as directly behind herself. "I think Barty was the only one to actually manage to stay awake. At the very least he'd chew us out for sleeping after every class. Then again, he can have trouble keeping a class' attention too, so I suppose them getting along so well makes sense in a way."

"What's going on here?" Blake asked as she saw Amber walk out of the back room of the lecture hall.

"You tell me," Amber said, still sitting next to her as well. "You're the one who needs to get this memory train going."

"How am I supposed to know, all I remember is, wait," Blake looked down at Yang. "I _do_ remember something else, your," she screamed out as the searing pain returned to her.

"My uncle Qrow literally dragged Oobleck from his office to me and had him give me a private lesson on illusion Semblances," Yang said, her and Blake standing around in an unnaturally smooth hallway, "and a few ways to counter them or figure them out if you think you're dealing with them." Yang shrugged, "Apparently his team leader would make life difficult from time to time with her own illusions for fun."

"I remember that," Amber said, walking up to them. "Good times. Made him teaching me chess a pain."

"So, how do we break out of this?" the memory Blake asked, looking around.

"He also told me about being dragged from his office the next time we saw each other," Amber laughed as Yang jumped through the wall.

"So this is an illusion?" Blake asked, assuming a guarded stance.

"Not one of my creation," Amber said, walking through the wall, "but yes."

"What kind of illusion strips someone of their memories!?" Blake demanded, slowly following Amber out into the frozen forest surrounding the hallway.

"A kind I had wished I was capable of until I saw it in action for the first time," Amber said, looking around. "This is Valak Mountain isn't it?"

"I… I don't know," Blake said, looking around as well, slowly dropping her guard.

Amber nodded slowly, "Well, that's a problem, but the fact that you haven't collapsed in pain even after two shifts is a major success."

"What are you talking about?"

Amber sighed, "Once you're out of it, I'll tell you."

"Tell me what, exactly?" Blake demanded.

"Everything," Amber promised, "but until we finish, I need you to swear you'll follow my lead, even if you're in excruciating pain."

"What are you going to do?" Blake asked, reassuming her guarded stance.

"You already know," Amber said, "I'm going to help you go through your memories until all the falsehoods fall away."

Blake looked around at the scenery she remembered, but didn't know how to get to, and when she thought of the date, she found herself there as well, now unsure if it had really been Yang there with her. "Okay."

Amber nodded, "We won't need every moment of your life, and we won't even need to start at a very young age, we just need key moments. Moments you treasure, moments you wish you could forget, moments that help define who you are."

"Who I am," Blake thought aloud.

Amber looked around, "So, Blake, what moment is this?"

"The moment I decided to become a Huntress," Blake said as the door to the room they were in flew open and Adam and Blake herself walked in. "The day I left the White Fang."

* * *

Team RWBY stood atop a platform in the middle of a square in Vale, weapons at the ready. Various types of Grimm surrounded them as the breach was underway. When the black head of the King Taijitu roared, the Grimm began their attack on the team as they readied their weapons. Ruby was the first to attack when she jumped off the platform and planted Crescent Rose's tip into the pavement as a small horde of Beowolves approached her.

Yang made the second move, running to the edge of the platform and jumping onto the head of a Creep. Firing on its head as she jumped, Yang launched herself into the air and continued firing to continue her assault on the attacking Grimm while also prolonging her flight until she flew into three Nevermores. The trio of avian Grimm sent her straight down into the pavement, creating a small crater. Picking herself up, Yang made use of the first thing she saw as an improvised weapon. Using her strength and her weapons, she sent a car flying across the area, taking out several Grimm at once. Turning her sights on the edge of the area, she saw several Ursae moving towards a nearby alley.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang yelled out as she ran after them, taking one out with a punch to the back of it's head, and the other two with shotgun blasts to their sides. "You okay?" Yang asked, seeing a group of people in the alley.

"We-we are," one of them said, clearly shaken up.

"Good, now get as far from here as you can," Yang said, turning back towards the open square. Running back out, she arrived just in time to see a large number of Atlas military airships float over the plaza and begin firing down on the Grimm while also dropping off their newest model androids. "Never thought I'd thank the Atlas military for anything, but I'll gladly thank them for the help," Yang smiled as she saw the robots begin firing upon the Grimm, their numbers allowing them to kill many of the beasts.

Turning back around to watch the edges of the area again, Yang heard a loud crashing noise behind her. Turning back around, she saw the white head of a King Taijitu sticking out of a nearby building, the black head lying on the ground pathetically.

_Please let it have been empty_, Yang thought as she ran towards the building. As she got close she jumped into the air and fired backwards to propel herself into its still living head. With one shot from each arm, Yang struck that head down as well.

"That was my kill!" Nora yelled out as Yang climbed out from the building.

"I didn't see your name on it," Yang countered.

"I took out its first head!" Nora yelled as she swung Magnhild into an Ursa, crushing it into the pavement.

"Well, you should have taken out its other head when you had the chance!" Yang laughed a bit as she launched herself at another Ursa while a Bullhead pulled in close to the square.

As Team CFVY joined the fray, Yang spied a large group of Beowolves making their way down a side road. Running after them, Yang fired three shots, taking down just as many of the Grimm as she approached. When she got closer she saw what they were chasing, a group of people that were running as fast as they could.

"Oh no!" Yang yelled as she launched herself to close the distance. Jumping atop one of the Beowolves, Yang rode it around while she shot a number of the others around it before killing the one she was on top of before it could hit her. Jumping towards the few remaining Beowolves, she propelled herself past the back few in the group and flew into the lead one as it was inches from the defenseless people. Feeling a warmth come over her, Yang smiled as she shot down the surrounding Beowolves as well. Turning to face the last Beowolf, it fell to the ground as fire seemed to explode from it's back.

"Good show Miss Xiao Long," Professor Port said as he walked closer. "Now do tell me, where is Bartholomew?"

"I'm sorry?" Yang asked.

"The good Doctor Oobleck," Port said, not missing a beat as Yang fired another shot at a few Grimm that were making their way down the road. "He was assigned to your mission was he not?"

"He was," Yang said, looking back at the square, "and he should still be over there."

"Ah, wonderful, it's been too long since our last scuffle together," he said beginning to stroll towards the main scene of the fighting.

Shaking her head, Yang turned back towards the people that had been attacked earlier, "You okay?"

"Yeah," one of the men said. "Thanks for that, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

Yang nodded, _Unfortunately, I do._

* * *

"Blake," Yang said calmly as she sat on the desk.

"Yang," Blake said, continuing to pace around with her arms crossed, "if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath."

"I don't want you to stop," Yang said, moving her head to follow Blake's pacing, "I want you to slow down."

"We don't have the luxury to slow down."

"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity."

"The _necessity_ is stopping Torchwick," Blake said, stopping her pacing.

"And we're going to," Yang said, leaning forward to pat her hand on the desk. "But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say."

Blake looked away in what Yang could only guess was increased irritation, but after a moment, the black haired girl walked over and sat down next to her. "Fine."

"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale," Yang began her story. "Our parents were Huntsmen. Our father taught at Signal, and our mother took on missions around the Kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was like," Yang smiled as she remembered it, "Super-mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then," Yang looked down sadly, "she went on a mission and never came back. It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost. She was the second. The first… was my mom." Yang paused for a moment before continuing. "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."

"Why did she leave you?" Blake asked, her irritation forgotten.

Yang sighed, "That question… why?" Yang stood up from the desk and walked to the room's chalkboard, it was all she could do to keep from shaking for a moment. "I didn't know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about…"

* * *

"Uncle Qrow?" a young Yang asked as she walked into the kitchen of her childhood home.

"Oh," Qrow set the mug he was drinking from down, "Yang, what is it?"

"Well, daddy hasn't really said or done anything since you said mommy died," Yang said. "He even got a message from Beacon today about it and he didn't even react. Not even Ruby's been able to get him to do anything other than just sit or lay around all day."

"Well," Qrow took a long drink from his mug, "different people grieve in different ways."

"But daddy's always been there trying to cheer us up if mommy was away," Yang said.

"Yes, well," Qrow sighed.

"What is it?"

"This is especially hard on your father," Qrow said, looking at his mug, clearly wondering if he should take another drink.

"What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you this," Qrow said, looking away from his niece.

"Tell me what?" Yang asked, her tone making it clear she wasn't going to let him just drop the subject.

Qrow sighed, "Tai or Summer should have been the ones to tell you this, but I guess the world just doesn't want this to happen."

"Uncle Qrow?"

"Now, before I say anything, I want you to know that Summer loved you just as much as she did Ruby. She did everything she did for you out of love, and that's all you need for her to be family. But," he sighed, "you aren't related to her."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked, incredibly confused. "How could I not be related to mommy?"

Qrow sighed again, "Before your father married Summer, he was married to another, also from our team from our school days, my sister, Raven."

"Raven?" Qrow nodded. "So, she died fighting Grimm too?"

"Yang…" Qrow sighed, "I shouldn't be the one telling you this. It should, no, it _needs _to be your father." Yang nodded slowly, and walked out of the room.

"Daddy?" Yang asked as she walked into the living room. Taiyang didn't react for a moment. "Daddy?" she repeated, louder.

Taiyang looked up at her, "Sorry, what is it, baby?"

"Could you tell me about my mommy?"

"What do you mean?" Taiyang sounded incredibly tired and worn out. "You spent so much time with Summer."

"No," Yang shook her head. "I was just talking with Uncle Qrow, and he told me about my real mommy."

Taiyang froze for a moment before nodding a bit. "I suppose it's time you did learn about that."

"So, what happened to her?" Yang asked as she sat down next to her father.

Taiyang took a deep breath, "Well, I told you and Ruby about how Summer, Qrow, and I were all on a team together at Beacon." Yang nodded. "Well, Raven, your mother, was on the team too. Our four years together were incredible, and I fell in love with her. Not long after we graduated, we got married. We lived together just fine for a few years." He sighed.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Taiyang said, looking at the floor. "She'd always had periods where something would happen, and she'd become more distant and wouldn't talk to us as much as she focused on something important to her, and not too long after you were born, she vanished."

"What do you mean she vanished!?" Yang demanded, jumping to her feet.

"She," Taiyang slumped down, looking defeated. "She was in the city for a mission, and one day, she just stopped calling, and she never came home. No one knew where she went, we still don't."

"Why would she do that!?" Yang demanded, on the edge of tears.

"I don't know," her father said, nearly crying as well.

"So she just left!? Why would she just leave us and do this?" Yang demanded as tears began flowing down her cheeks. Before her father could say anything, she ran from the room and across the house.

"Yang!?" Ruby yelled out in surprise. "What's, what's wrong?" Yang just shook her head, and put her arms around her baby sister as she felt herself shaking uncontrollably while she cried and cried.

* * *

"Blake!" Yang called out.

"We don't want to alert anyone that we're here," Weiss said.

"We just left Ruby to fight Neo," Yang pointed out, "I'm pretty sure they probably already know we're moving on past her."

Weiss remained silent for a few moments. "Blake!" she finally called out.

"I thought so," Yang said, throwing open a side door, finding an empty room. The two of them moved down the hallway, checking rooms as they progressed, eventually coming to a door at the end. The two women nodded and Yang kicked the door open, revealing the White Fang Lieutenant with his back turned to the doorway. He turned around, and held up his chainsword, looking between his two new visitors before quickly leaving the room, leaving Blake behind, lying, unconscious, in a chair.

"I'll follow him," Weiss said, quickly leaving. Yang nodded and walked up to her unconscious partner. As she approached, a dripping sound reached her ears. Stepping closer, Yang's eyes fell upon a puddle of dark red underneath the right side of the chair that hadn't been immediately obvious because of the building's poor lighting. Yang's heart skipped a beat as she quickly moved around and saw a long bloody gash running down her right arm.

"Blake…" Yang said, moving back in front of her partner, her bow lying unraveled in her lap along with her left arm. Her left arm was uncut, but far from undamaged as bruises ran down its length. Yang stood there in shock for several seconds before she noticed Blake's chest moving from an unsteady breath. Yang quickly moved to pull out her scroll and send out a warning beacon. "Help should be here soon…" Yang said, to reassure herself more than anything. "But…" she looked back at the door behind her. "Alright, we saw no one else here except Neo," she turned back to Blake, and grit her teeth. _I'll be right back, Blake._

Yang ran to the door Weiss and the White Fang Lieutenant had left through. On the other side, she found a staircase that led up to the next floor. Making her way upstairs, she found no one else. _Why would the White Fang leave the place empty, that doesn't make any- _she ran through one final door on the top floor and found herself on a series of catwalks above a large central room. On the floor below, Weiss was fighting against the White Fang Lieutenant. Up on the catwalks were all the White Fang soldiers that would have been elsewhere in the building otherwise, all of them holding rifles pointed down towards Weiss. No one was firing, instead they seemed to be ready to take out the heiress should she win the match down below.

Yang's eyes immediately shifted from lilac to red as anger coursed through her as she realized what was happening. Weiss was being forced to stay on the defensive, using her glyphs to push herself and her opponent around without actually harming him for fear of the large firing squad watching her. So focused on the fight were the White Fang soldiers that none had even noticed Yang yet. However, with two quick shots from Ember Celica, that changed. The explosive blasts knocked entire groups of waiting White Fang members off the catwalks and onto the ground below, and the ones who hadn't been knocked off turned their gaze towards Yang instead.

"What's the matter!?" Yang shouted as she sent another series of shots towards the remaining White Fang soldiers, sending them flying off the catwalks one group at a time. Jumping down into the now crowded main area, Yang shot the ground as she landed, creating a shockwave that sent any of the soldiers close to her flying around the area. "Weiss, you ready to finish this?"

"Gladly," the white haired girl responded as she spun around before stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground, generating a large spinning glyph. Several of the still standing White Fang soldiers raised their weapons for a moment before losing their nerve as a large white Ursa emerged from the glyph. The sounds of several weapons hitting the floor rang through the air as the summoned beast roared.

"Cowards!" the Lieutenant yelled out as the Ursa began to charge him. With one mighty swing, the Ursa was struck down and vanished into a white mist.

"I guess you still need to work on your summoning," Yang said, preparing to fire another shot.

"I suppose so," Weiss said, generating another glyph to instead launch herself at the man. As he swung at her approaching form, she generated a second glyph to jump over his attack, and a third to manipulate her Ice Dust as she flew into the air. Ice enveloped Myrtenaster as she pulled the trigger, elongating the rapier into a large spear that she stabbed down with as she hung in the air directly above the lieutenant. When he blocked the attack, he felt Yang's fist strike his stomach. Yang's punch sent him flying across the room, and into the wall.

When Weiss landed, she spun Myrtenaster's chamber around, and tapped her finger against one of the revolving chambers while generating more glyphs. These were a deep red in color, and when the White Fang Lieutenant lifted himself off the ground, they erupted into flames. Looking between his two opponents for several moments, the man jumped through the flames and ran to the nearest door, which opened with the sound of loud clanging metal. Running after him, Yang found they were in the staircase room she'd entered outside of where Blake was resting. The door she had come out of having been sealed behind a false wall when she first made her way through the room.

Firing Ember Celica, Yang stopped the White Fang Lieutenant in his tracks, causing him to turn around. He quickly struck out, trying to get in the first strike. Yang brought up her arms and blocked the blow with her gauntlets, smiling as she felt the energy from the blow course through her body. She quickly moved in to strike at the man with a quick left hook, delivering a blast from her gauntlet as she struck. The man, however, ducked while bringing down the chainsword, which had been deflected upwards from Yang's earlier guard. Yang quickly fired from her right gauntlet to propel herself out of the way as the chainsword struck the ground. Yang felt the floor shake from the impact as she spun around and hit the man directly in his mask, knocking him backwards slightly and causing the mask to slip to the side. The man quickly regained his balance and moved to fix his mask so that he'd be able to see again.

Taking advantage of the man's momentary blindness, Yang struck again, delivering a powerful blow into the man's gut with her left hand, followed by an uppercut with her right that was empowered with another shot from her gauntlet. As the man flew into the air, he quickly moved his chainsword so that it caught Yang on the bottom of the chin as he flew upward. Yang took a few steps backwards, her Aura having blocked the blow from harming her, but that didn't stop it from stinging from the blunt force of the impact. The man landed on the ground, and quickly tried picking himself up from the ground, but before he could, Yang let out all the energy she'd absorbed during their brief duel, causing a faint yellow glow to emanate from her body as she delivered a powerful blow to the back of his head, knocking him into the floor and knocking him out. Feeling the anger drain out of her, everything he'd done coursed through her mind. In a split second, Yang made a decision, and, letting out a mighty yell, she fired Ember Celica into his chest.

"It's over then?" Weiss' asked quietly as a deep chill came over Yang's entire body.

"With him," Yang said emotionlessly as she turned her attention back to the door leading to Blake's room. "He's caused so much pain, and nearly killed you twice now."

"Are you telling me this, or yourself?" Weiss asked as she kept her eyes away from the now dead man. When she didn't get an answer, she sighed. "What's done is done, and I can't exactly say I'm sorry he's gone."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Stick by my friends," Weiss said, moving over to the door. "Two second year Huntresses in training fought a member of the White Fang. We underestimated our strengths and he died in battle." Yang nodded slowly. "How do you feel?"

"Cold," Yang said. "Colder than I ever imagined it would feel."

* * *

"And what moment are we at now?" Amber asked, looking around again.

"This…" Yang sighed, "this is the moment Adam died."

"And what does this moment mean to you?" Yang didn't say anything, instead she just stared at Blake crying in her arms. "Yang?"

"I feel so cold," Blake said as the Bullheads approached.

"You didn't do anything wrong," memory Yang said, tightening her arms around her.

"I could have saved him," Blake said emotionlessly. "But I didn't, that's what I did wrong!" Blake yelled out, pushing Yang away. "You can't possibly say I've done nothing wrong when an unarmed man is…" Blake fell to her knees, her tears falling more liberally.

"If letting Adam die is wrong, then I've done far worse," Yang said, putting her arms back around her partner.

"No," Blake shook her head, "there's nothing you could have done that's worse."

"I have," Yang said, pushing Blake's head up with her hand to look her in the eyes. "I killed an unconscious man because he harmed you and threatened to kill Weiss."

"Yang…"

"You're not him. You'll never become him. If letting someone who's caused so much pain and suffering die is wrong, then I've done much worse."

Amber placed her hand on her chin, while the Yang watching the events unfold averted her eyes, "I told her that to try and make her feel better, and all I managed was to come to terms with what I'd done myself."

"You tried to help your friend, but all you succeeded in was helping yourself," Amber shook her head, looking amused, "I don't know if that's a horribly failed attempt at being selfless or an accidental case of immense selfishness. Do you know if Blake ever came to terms with letting Adam die?"

Yang nodded, "When whoever took over the White Fang attacked Vale a month later," Yang said as the scene changed to Yang and Blake driving along the street on Yang's old motorcycle. "Seeing the White Fang's larger scale but overall less horrid means made her accept it, even if it still haunts her."

"Accepted it in her heart, but her conscience won't let her forget it?" Amber asked, prompting Yang to nod. "Just like you accept you murdered the White Fang member but still have nightmares about it?"

"Yes…" Yang said just as her motorcycle was destroyed in an explosion. A few moments later, Blake picked herself up off the ground, her bow gone.

Amber nodded, "They do say that when you fight monsters you need to be careful not to become just as bad as the monsters you fight. But I don't think she has any need to fear that outcome anytime soon."

"Yeah, well tell her that," Yang muttered.

Amber nodded again, more slowly this time. "So, are there any other memories about Blake we need to visit?"

Yang nodded as she and Amber found themselves standing near the northern edge of Schnee Plaza. "One more," she said as she and Blake, both wearing dresses, made their way to a nearby bench.

"And what moment is this?" Amber asked.

Yang smiled sadly, "A moment I wish I'd followed up on very differently."

"We're in Atlas, so this is recent in your life," Amber observed, "and the nice dresses suggest something went bad at a formal event."

Yang nodded, "The SDC event."

"The SDC event? Ah, their yearly gala, I suppose you would have been invited to that."

Yang nodded again, "Things went badly to say the least."

"Weiss and Winter were disowned, I would say that qualifies as bad."

"How do you..." Yang looked at Amber incredulously. Amber waved her off, "Right, when this is over," Yang grumbled before going quiet as she saw Blake kiss her.

Amber nodded as Blake pulled away, "Clearly it meant something to you." Yang just nodded. "Alright, I've seen you transition from your sister's surrogate mother to looking up to her as a bit of a hero. I've seen Weiss go from being the obnoxious rich girl to a true ally and friend. And now I've seen Blake go from the aloof mystery to your best friend and love interest. What's next?"

"I suppose getting my arm," Yang sighed.

"That would be nice," Amber said as the area around them changed to a small room. "I saw you lose it when we were going through your memories about Blake." The memory Yang was sitting at a table, her prosthetic arm already attached to her, but was strapped down to a table. Ironwood stood watching as another man with dark brown hair was knelt over Yang's arm, running his hands over it.

"This was, what, a week after your uncle forced my old partner to give you a lesson on illusions?"

Yang shook her head, "That was when I lost my arm. It took several weeks for the new one to get built and arrive from Atlas."

"Lehti, how's it look?" Ironwood asked.

"The conduits and cords seem to be running fine," Lehti said, his Aura glowing a dark green as he ran his hands over a specific spot on the arm, causing the memory Yang to flinch. "And the touch receptors are working fine."

"I can't imagine what getting an arm like that must have been like," Amber said, watching the event unfold.

"It certainly took a lot of getting used to. No sense of temperature or pain," the real Yang shook her head. "But hey, at least they were able to put in enough sensors for me to be able to feel someone touching me over the entire thing."

"I imagine getting used to sleeping with a large hunk of metal would take a while too," Amber said.

Yang laughed, "About that."

"Now, you can sleep and even bathe with it still on," Ironwood said, "but I wouldn't recommend it. With a code input, you can disable it, and then remove it so you won't have to worry about it draining your energy while you sleep." The memory Yang nodded. "And for when you do take it off," Ironwood set down a small box, "inside here are a pair of covers that will connect to both ends of the coupling with an airtight seal to keep it clean." The memory Yang nodded again.

"You seem out of it," Amber observed.

Yang laughed weakly. "I fight with my fists. Losing my arm was like losing a part of what I was," she paused before sighing, "and Blake blamed herself for what happened, and didn't want to talk with me. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't fall into a bout of depression."

A pained expression crossed Amber's face at the last word. "So," the older woman said after a few moments, "you said Blake blamed herself for what happened. How'd she get over that?"

Yang sighed, "She didn't. She was able to bring herself to face me again once I had my new arm, but every time she sees it and it's not covered up, or she feels the it touch her, she freezes up a bit."

Amber nodded, but she didn't appear as if she was surprised by the answer. "So, anything else?" Yang didn't say anything. "Let's rephrase that, I know there's more we need to go through, what is it?" Yang looked down, feeling ashamed. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath as a light pain formed in the back of her skull. "We're in a forest, and there's an old house nearby. It's not snow covered, so this isn't Valak Mountain. Where are we?"

"It's an island just off the coat of Vale," Yang said quietly.

"And island off the coa- Patch," Amber said as Yang reopened her eyes and stared at the ground.

"It was the first time neither our dad nor our uncle was around since our mom died," Yang said, her voice a dull monotone.

"Obviously something happened you're not proud of," Amber observed.

Yang nodded, "After she died and our dad shut down I managed to pester our uncle Qrow until he told me the truth about our family, or at least part of it and then I got more info from my dad. Summer wasn't my mom by birth, instead Qrow's twin sister Raven was, but she'd left us not too long after I was born. I became… obsessed with trying to find out why, and when given time alone, I went to the only lead I had managed to find, their childhood home."

"It was on Patch as well," Amber guessed.

Yang nodded as she looked to the side. Down the forest pathway, a young blonde girl dragging a wagon along came trudging around a corner. "Mom!" Yang heard her younger self call out. "There it is!" the young girl called out as she laid eyes on the house.

Yang averted her eyes from her younger self, "Patch may have a lot of forest and wild areas, but the constant flow of students studying at Signal means that the Grimm population is kept in check. They're only allowed to roam in a small area, and older students regularly go hunting alongside teachers to keep them there. Because of that, I'd never seen a Grimm before, and I thought it would be safe…" Yang heard her younger self take a step back and bump into the wagon Ruby was lying in.

"Your obsession nearly got you and your sister killed, that's definitely something to be ashamed of," Amber observed, causing Yang to look down again. "But clearly you survived somehow."

"Yeah," Yang looked up to see a Beowolf lunge at her, "our Uncle Qrow." Before the Grimm had even covered half the distance between the house and the younger Yang, Qrow came flying out of the trees, scythe in hand, and struck it down.

Amber nodded, "First his sister abandons them. Years later, loses a friend to the Grimm, then nearly loses his nieces the same way before nearly losing them again come the next Vytal Festival all in the same year. That's certainly been impactful on Qrow, but what about you? How's this event impacted you in the long run?" Yang didn't respond, instead she watched Qrow kill the remaining Grimm. "You wanted to become a Huntress after this, didn't you?"

Yang nodded weakly, "I also swore I'd never let my desire to learn the truth about my mom destroy me."

"But you didn't abandon the search entirely." It wasn't a question.

"No, I made sure I was smarter in where I looked, even if it never went anywhere," Yang sighed as she found them standing in the middle of a very familiar nightclub.

"Blondie, showing up at a terrible time as always," Junior said, walking up to where the memory Yang, whose right arm was covered up to hide her prosthetic, and Nora stood in the entryway. "And you brought another friend along. I don't know if this is better or worse for me than the guy you brought last time."

The memory Yang smiled, "Depends on if you want your things broken or not."

"I'd prefer you getting out of here without me having to pay for repairs for once," Junior sighed.

"Hei 'Junior' Xiong," Amber said. "Somehow I'm not surprised to see this."

"You've dealt with him?" Yang asked in surprise.

"You could say that."

"Nora, smash," the memory Yang said, sounding aggravated by something the two observers had spoken over.

"Oh, with pleasure," Nora giggled, pulling out Magnhild and leaping towards the bar and shattering it in one hit.

"What are you doing!?" Junior yelled out.

"Nora!" Yang called out, getting the shorter girl to stop. Turning back to Junior, Yang smiled, "I just want info for once."

Junior grunted as he began to walk towards where Nora was standing. "On what? I've told you before I can't help you with your main search unless you can point me somewhere, and last I heard, Torchwick's still locked up."

"Nora," Yang said as she followed him. Nora started to raise Magnhild once again.

"Wait!" Junior called out. "Look, Vale's a large city, if you want me to realistically find something, I need a direction to go, otherwise the best I can do is just tell you if I happen to find anything randomly."

Yang nodded towards Nora, who lowered Magnhild looking disappointed, prompting Junior to sigh in relief. "Alright, if you _do_ find anything about that, I want you to only report it to me, anyone else hears about it, and I let Nora go free in here, alright?"

"Alright, whatever you say," Junior threw up his arms, sounding defeated. "Now is that all?"

"No," Yang said, taking a seat at a still intact part of the bar. "I want to know everything you have on the White Fang."

"He told me that there seemed to be someone other than Adam calling the shots in the Fang," Yang said, looking at Amber.

"Cinder then," Amber said, looking around a bit. "I think we're ready to try and end this."

"About time," Yang said, feeling tired. "What's exactly changed to make it possible? Can you at least tell me that"

"Having you go through your important memories, and having them corrected is weakening the hold the illusion has on you. The more you went through, the more I could safely tear down barriers, and now it's reached a point where I should be able to break it down entirely," Amber said. "Now I just need you to focus on the very last thing that happened to you before your memories start getting weird and contradictory. From there…" Amber looked away for a moment.

"From there what?"

"From there, I can tear the illusion apart, and get you out. But, it will be incredibly painful. Even with everything I've done to make it easier, your mind is still going to fight against it, and it's going to be painful, but if you can remain conscious through it, you'll escape."

"And if I pass out?"

"I'll have to leave and wait for the illusion to rebuild itself, and then start again, or risk… well a lot of mental damage."

"Have you had to do that before?" Yang asked, feeling anxious.

"This will be the fourth time I'll have tried getting you out," Amber admitted.

"Wonderful," Yang shook her head.

"Fortunately though, the more contradicting memories floating around in your mind, the easier it is to fully accept what is false as false, which will reduce the pain and make it easier to get out. And I've stepped in and just reset everything myself a few times to make it even easier."

"When do we start?"

"Once you're ready, we'll begin, just focus on the last memory you have before this began."

"Thing is, I don't remember what happened," Yang said, bitterly. "Everything we've been through, and the last thing I remember is talking with Team SSSN in Atlas."

Amber nodded, "You were on Valak Mountain. So..." Amber looked to the side for a moment before smiling. "Imagine yourself in a frozen forest."

Yang nodded, and concentrated. She found herself lying on the ground outside the old mining facility on Valak Mountain. She was alone, and she was experiencing the memory again instead of watching from third person alongside Amber, who was nowhere to be seen. Not that she could look around anyway, she was limited to what she remembered. Looking to her side, she saw the man dressed in black with the brown marked mask standing over Blake, his hand held over her eyes. A few moments later, the man stood, and made his way over to her. In her stupor, Yang tried to fight him off, but could barely muster enough energy to just move her head to the side. His left hand grabbed her chin, and held her face to look up at the sky, and a moment later, his right hand appeared over her eyes, and the last thing she saw was a blinding white light as pain erupted in her skull.

Yang shot up in bed, shaking horribly.

"Yang!" Ruby's voice came from her side, and before she could even react, Yang felt two arms fly around her. As Yang began to process what was happening, she realized she was lying in a hospital bed, and was incredibly tired. Turning her head to look at her little sister, she saw Ruby's face was alight with happiness, but clearly worn down from lack of sleep. Huge discolored bags were under her eyes, and her skin was sallow.

"I guess the fifth time was the charm," Amber's voice came from her other side. Looking back over, she saw Amber sitting at her bedside, Blake, Weiss, and Winter all sitting beyond her near the room's second, unoccupied, bed. Blake and Weiss both had the same unhealthy appearance as Ruby, even looking somewhat worse. Winter, however, while looking incredibly stressed, seemed otherwise healthy.

"What's going on, the last thing I remember is," Yang instinctively tried to hold her head with her right hand as a headache began to set in, but failed as her prosthetic had been detached, prompting her to awkwardly shift around to instead hold it with her left with Ruby still holding on to her on that side of her body.

"Now that you've broken out of the illusion, all the memories will come back," Amber said, standing up. "Both from the illusions you experienced, and your actual life."

"How long?" Yang grunted. "How long have we been out?"

"I was able to break Ruby out after a month," Amber said, "Weiss and Blake came the next week, and now you, after another week."

"A month and a half?" Yang asked in disbelief, fighting through the headache and the exhaustion. Amber nodded.

"So, are you going to explain what it is we were dealing with?" Ruby asked. "You said once we were all up you'd be able to."

Amber sighed, but nodded again. "There are multiple forms of illusions in this world. The first is just your brain being tricked in various ways at a magic show. Obviously those fall apart once you know the trick. Beyond that, there are Dust mixtures in this world that can produce simple illusions. Their only real use is in magic shows as well. Then, there's Semblance born illusions."

"Like yours," Weiss said.

Amber nodded. "Yes. Now, Semblance based illusions are subdivided into three categories. The first is the general form every illusionist has where the illusionist uses their Aura to manipulate light to make people see what the illusionist wants them to see." Amber's body shattered into numerous gemstones. The gemstones fell to the ground, where they bounced once and vanished. Amber herself was now standing at the door. "These illusions obviously have limitations. To be affected by them, you must see them or know where they are, and the illusionists themselves must keep a perfect mental image of what they are doing since they cannot see the illusions themselves, as well as not being picked up on cameras, as you learned in probably the worst possible way," Amber said, looking at Yang specifically at the end, who just nodded along, feeling too tired to do anything else.

"The two remaining types are subskills that comparatively few illusionists have," Amber continued on. "The first is Active Illusions, which I possess. Now, the name has been confused with the general illusions, but they are not the same. Active Illusions are any ability that allows one illusionist to interfere with, and even take control of, other people's illusions."

"That's how you were able to get us out," Weiss said, to which Amber nodded.

"And what we dealt with was the third type," Blake figured.

"Passive Illusions, "Amber confirmed, "the most powerful type of illusion. Where you trap someone in an illusion so powerful and perfect that it can affect them even if they shut their senses off to it." Amber let out a short sigh. "When I was younger, I had wanted to attain that power myself after hearing the fairy tale. It's something you hear about but never see, you just want to know, to do it. But then I saw it in action," she shook her head. "If anything, the tale undersells what they're capable of, but it's not worth it. The ability to trap someone within their own mind is a horrid thing that no one should have. I feel dirty just being able to manipulate ones already put in place.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention," Amber sounded more and more disgusted as she continued talking. "That's discounting the fact that while you're trapped, you're not resting. The four of you were kept alive in the hospital, but you all got only minimal amounts of what just barely passes for sleep each day while you were trapped." Amber glared to the side. "I've had people I haven't been able to break out die from it. When I was still learning how to deal with them, the first few I just broke out, and it left them mentally scarred with, at best, severe PTSD." Amber sighed, and turned around, "Every time I deal with another case of it, I pray they're the last, that whoever this man that can do this is, he's finished his work, but it's never the case. And with him now being in league with… well I don't know what to think about it."

"You think it's all the same guy?" Ruby asked, still holding onto Yang.

Amber nodded, "Passive illusions are so rare that they were thought to be a myth. I highly doubt they're different people. I refer to him as a 'him' because that's how he's appeared most of the time, but he's had different hair, different eyes, even different species and even as a woman a few times, and now a mask with brown markings and a black coat. I've heard every description possible about the man doing this for a long time now, all over Remnant, but I find it hard to believe that dozens of people suddenly developed this mythical power all at once. Now, I have to give a report to the General. If you want to discuss what's happened any more, I'll happily do so, but I need to talk with Ironwood at the very least. But, for now, I'd recommend this." She turned and looked at Yang. "I'll give you the same advice I gave them: sleep. You, all four of you, _need_ to sleep, desperately."

"Will we ever wind up like that again?" Yang asked as Amber turned back around.

Amber sighed sadly, "On your own, no, but if you run into whoever it is that did this, you very well might."

**A/N3: So, I'm going to start off with discussing things that have been introduced in Volume 3 thus far that I will and won't be incorporating in this fic. And with that, let's start with the big one: The four maidens. They play absolutely no role in what I'm writing, so while they will exist in this fic's version of Remnant, they will not be appearing, and regardless of what happens later on down the road in Volume 3, Pyrrha will not be gaining powers. I think… that's the only real big thing across the two episodes released since last time. I'll probably edit this with info on the next World of Remnant, which I'm guessing is going to be more info on the maidens.**

**A/N4: So, Passive Illusions. They are a thing I am writing, and they are a thing I chose not to try and foreshadow outside of the one reference to the term Active Illusion suggesting there is probably a Passive counterpart, but, as pointed out in this chapter, said term was also used incorrectly in that one instance due to Yang sole lesson on the subject having come years earlier. Speaking of that lesson, Episode 6 provides a perfect point after which to have said lesson occur, so yay for that.**

**A/N5: Most Semblances are personality based, that was established a long time ago, so let's talk about Amber's personality. As she said in this chapter, her Semblance made Oobleck teaching her chess difficult. The reason was somewhat shown back in Chapter 5. Basically, what happened is Amber used her Semblance to make it look like a few of the pieces on the board were moved around to annoy him, and this is because Amber's a bit of a troll when it comes to dealing with people she's close to, which leads to her Active Illusion ability which lets her troll other illusionists.**

**A/N6: Continuing with illusions, and this can also act as a point of divergence from the canon series if it's explicitly shown or stated otherwise later on, but I'm writing them to have a sort of signature to them. Neo's is shattering glass when her illusion is broken, Brown Mask's is disintegrating into a wind that may or may not exist when dismissed, and Amber's is the shattering into gemstones when either broken or dismissed. Now, since Weiss had no knowledge of Amber's signature, it didn't appear in her illusion last chapter. Continuing into Semblances as a whole, I'm still doing this, although not every Semblance has one. Ruby's signature is generating rose petals, Yang's is her hair glowing and eyes changing colors, Blake's is obviously her Shadows taking on her appearance, and, for the Schnee family Semblance, the design of their glyphs. Et cetera**


	15. Another Side, Another Story

**A/N1: I know I said I wouldn't be uploading Friday mornings, but consider it my Christmas gift to you all. Now: the finale of the first Arc (for real this time).**

"So, boss, what do we do next?" Orange Mask asked.

"Prep them to be put under," Brown Mask answered as Black Mask set Ruby and Weiss down. Red and Green immediately began moving them while Orange moved next to Weiss.

"Aw, Weiss looks so sweet while she's unconscious," Orange Mask said, using her foot to move Weiss' head back and forth slowly.

"Leave her alone," Black Mask said, kicking out at the other woman's leg. Orange Mask just laughed and jumped away.

"Hey, I should be able to mess with her a bit," Orange Mask mock complained. "I was the one who had to make her little blade jump attack work out and not break the illusion."

"Oh please, you do not get to complain about someone being heavy," Green Mask interjected.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Orange Mask demanded.

"You know exactly what that means," Green Mask growled out.

"Yeah, I do," Orange Mask laughed.

"You seriously had her help you with this?" Red Mask asked, looking at Brown mask, his voice full of incredulity.

"Aw, is the neophyte jealous he didn't get to burn down the old SDC town," Orange Mask asked in a mocking tone, prompting Red Mask to growl at her.

"Quiet," Brown Mask said looking between them. "She's proven herself more than capable of doing what I ask without failing… plus each of you were busy."

"Hey!" Orange Mask yelled as Green, Red, and Black Masks laughed. After a moment she just shrugged. "Oh well, it's not like I was the only one helping," she said looking over at Black Mask. "Someone knocked out Weiss, and it wasn't me."

"Just stop," Blue Mask growled out. Her monotone voice silencing the others in an instant.

"Let's get this started," Brown Mask said, kneeling down as Blake began to stir.

* * *

"Thank you for coming in this late," Ironwood said as the four members of Team SSSN walked into his office.

"Yeah, well when the headmaster of Outlook comes calling, do we have a choice?" Sun asked. "Anyway, what's this about?"

"The four of you have a lot of experience in dealing with the White Fang, unless I'm mistaken," Ironwood said, looking between the four young men.

"Some experience in Vale, some in Vacuo around the last two Vytal Festivals, yeah," Sun said.

"Are they here now?" Sage asked, getting straight to the point.

"Unfortunately, we believe they are," Ironwood confirmed, turning his computer screen around. "Do you know who this is?"

"Adam Taurus," Sun said, looking back at the general. "What about him, he died months ago."

"It would seem that that's not the case," Ironwood said.

"How could he still be alive, Blake-" Neptune started.

"I know what Blake said, I interviewed her about it myself," Ironwood cut in. "But this picture was taken a few weeks ago by a trusted associate."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Scarlet scratched the back of his head. "How could he possibly be alive if…"

"I don't know what happened on board that train," Ironwood said, turning his computer screen back around. "But I do know that whatever it is Blake did or didn't do, Adam is still alive now. And I want the four of you to look for information."

"Uh… why us?" Neptune asked.

"Because I need this to be kept quiet for now. Military use would raise a lot of eyebrows, but four Huntsmen just patrolling the area, and asking random questions, that goes unnoticed. Huntsmen with years of experience working their own missions off the boards do it fairly often on their own."

Sun looked between his friends before looking back at Ironwood, "And what of Blake, and Ruby, and them?"

"They'll continue looking into Valak Mountain for now, but after they return, they are free to choose their own missions since they have gone through their first month. I suspect they'll probably be interested in looking into this as well."

Sage laughed, "Assign the four you still have some control over to do something knowing the others will join in. Nice plan." Ironwood raised his eyebrow, looking amused.

"I don't think we have any objections," Sun said, smiling widely.

"Good, I would give you all the info we had on them, but the server containing most of our files on them is nonfunctional currently," Ironwood lamented.

"It just stopped working?" Sun asked in surprise.

"No," Ironwood shook his head. "It was sabotaged, but we're keeping all our info on our search for the culprit quiet. The only reason I'm telling you this is because it might have been a White Fang supporter or even a member that got access. Now then, I'll leave-" the phone in Ironwood's office began ringing. "This better be important, I said no interruptions," he said into the receiver. A few moments later, his face paled, and as he set the phone back down, he looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"General?" Scarlet asked. "You okay?"

Ironwood stood, and waved for the four of them to follow him. Looking between themselves, the four members of Team SSSN followed him out of his office, into the elevator, and rode it up to the roof. As they stepped outside, the first thing they saw was several soldiers standing around looking up at the roof of the elevator shaft.

"What are they looking at?" Neptune asked.

"General, we-" Sun stopped as he saw Yang's unconscious form being loaded onto a stretcher, her teammates resting next to her.

"I need to make some calls," Ironwood said, turning back to the elevator door.

* * *

"And that is everything that happened?" Ozpin asked, looking between the eight people gathered in his office.

"Yes," Jaune said. "We were just checking out the area, when she showed up. We got into a fight and, well, we lost." He looked back at his teammates. Ren and Pyrrha were both standing respectfully while Nora was still holding the head of Magnhild in her arms like a mother caring for a sick infant. The shattered remains of Milo and the disassembled handle for Magnhild lying on Ozpin's desk.

"Then we joined in near the end of it and were able to push her back, but it took all four of us," Coco added. Ozpin nodded, having heard it already.

"So, uh, what are we to do?" Jaune asked, feeling more and more anxious the longer they waited in the office.

Ozpin sighed, "I ask that the eight of you remain at Beacon for the night. We'll reconvene here in the morning to continue this. Miss Valkyrie and Miss Nikos, the both of you may freely use the supplies we have ready to repair your weapons as always."

"Thank you, professor," Pyrrha said politely as she picked up the remains of Milo using both her hands and her Semblance while Nora just mumbled something and made her way to the elevator, where the other seven people crowded in. They rode down in silence and, upon reaching the bottom, went their separate ways. Team CFVY making their way to the campus' guest rooms. JNPR making their ways to a completely different part of campus entirely.

As Jaune sat down in a weapons maintenance room, no one said anything as Nora and Ren set about gathering supplies to rebuild Magnhild while Pyrrha began looking over what remained of Milo to check if anything was salvageable. The leader only broke the silence as Pyrrha abandoned most of the weapon's coverings, but kept most of the internal pieces. "What are we dealing with?"

"Someone incredibly powerful," Pyrrha said as she began getting replacement parts for the pieces she'd gotten rid of.

"I know that much," Jaune said, slumping down. "But beyond that, just… I don't know, I guess I just want to know why."

"If we knew that, we'd be in a far better place," Ren said as he set down some of the supplies for Magnhild, Nora being unusually quiet.

Jaune sighed, "Yeah, I-"

"Jaune Arc and Coco Adel, please report to the headmaster's office," Goodwitch's voice boomed out across the campus.

"Uh… what?" Jaune asked, standing back up.

"Must be important," Pyrrha said. Jaune nodded, and made his way back across campus to the main building.

"Hey, any idea what this is about?" Jaune asked as he hurried up to catch the elevator as Coco stepped into it.

"None at all," Coco answered as she held the door open to let him in. "So, how long do you think it's going to take for your friends to rebuild their weapons?"

Jaune laughed nervously, "Nora's probably going to take only a day. Her hammer is perfectly fine, it was just taken apart, pretty quickly too, but Pyrrha's… will take a bit longer, any worse and she'd have to start over from scratch."

Coco nodded, "Velv told us a bit of what was going on while we were still in Vacuo, but this is," she shrugged. "I don't know really. But tell you what," she looked over at Jaune, smirking, "while Pyrrha's repairing, we'll do some looking around for you."

"Oh, you don't need to do that," Jaune said.

"You're right we don't," Coco said looking back at the elevator doors. "But we want to. The four of us already talked it over."

"Thanks," Jaune said as the doors opened. Stepping into the office, Ozpin was staring at his computer screen. "You called for us, professor?"

Ozpin nodded, "Take a seat, we have one other person we need to wait for." As the two young adults did as they were asked, the old headmaster sighed. "I'm afraid something has come up with Team RWBY."

"What!?" Jaune asked, his head jerking towards Ozpin while Coco just set her head on her hand.

"I've sent an airship to Vale to get someone who will be able to help," Ozpin said, "but it's a very worrying situation."

"What is the situation?" Coco asked.

"Honestly, I wish we knew, and we found them," Sun's voice came from Ozpin's computer.

"Sun?" Jaune asked in surprise.

"Yeah, hey Jaune," Sun said. "We're in Ironwood's office at the Atlas military HQ. He's getting a few things ready."

* * *

"You really thought you could come into my club, harm my men, harm my security, and even damage my record player!?" Junior yelled out, aiming his bazooka at Yang, who was lying on the ground, leaning up against the wall underneath the DJ's platform. Above them, out of the information broker's vision, sat Amber, watching the scene unfold.

_Note to self, ask Yang what she did to him if I ever meet her,_ Amber thought as she watched Junior threaten the blonde girl's life with his bazooka, only for the explosion to do nothing to her, prompting him to toss it aside and pull out what looked to be a minigun. _He _really _wants her dead,_ Junior began firing, the countless bullets bouncing off of Yang's still body,_ but he can't kill her. Under different circumstances, I'd find this hilarious._ Junior threw his minigun away after a few moments and walked into the back room. While he was gone, Yang stood back and looked in the direction her assailant had left. After a moment, she cocked her head to one side in a way that very blatantly said she was confused as to what Junior was doing.

A few seconds later, the ground began shaking.

_And it looks like this is turning into a nightmare, _Amber thought as the shaking intensified and the back wall began to crack somewhat. A moment later, an old fashioned tank burst through the wall, rubble flying everywhere, and the barrel of its gun swung around and aimed right at Yang. Amber nearly fell off her perch from the absurdity as the tank fired, and the large shell bounced off of the blonde girl's face and fell to the ground harmlessly.

Pulling her arm away from Junior's unconscious form, Amber put her hands over her mouth, trying desperately not to laugh. "Something funny?" a voice came from the entrance to the room. Looking over, Amber saw a police officer standing there, looking incredibly unhappy as Amber continued fighting off laughter. The officer grunted, "I thought you said you hated doing that?"

"I do," Amber answered, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. "But some of the things I see when I'm doing it can be rather… interesting."

The officer grunted again, "Are you any closer to getting any info from him?"

"No," Amber shook her head. "As I told you when I started, for now it's best just to wait."

"Yeah, well, this is perfect then, we just got a call from Beacon saying the headmaster wanted you to get there ASAP."

"Ozpin wants me? For what?" Amber asked in confusion.

"No clue, maybe someone else like him showed up. Said they'd be sending an airship. Should be landing on the roof any moment," the officer said, leaving. Amber just looked back at Junior's unconscious form for a moment before exiting the room after the officer. The journey to Beacon lasted only a few minutes, but it felt much longer as she was lost in her thoughts. When the airship landed, she immediately set off down the main pathway to Ozpin's office, and took the elevator up.

"Alright Ozpin," Amber said as stepped into the office, "what's going on?"

"Aunt Amber?" a familiar voice asked in surprise.

"Coco?" Amber asked in surprise as the younger girl looked back at her.

"Good, we're all ready to talk," Ozpin said. "Currently in call are myself, Jaune Arc, Coco Adel, Amber Erudite, James Ironwood, Sun Wukong, Winter Schnee, and Qrow Branwen. James, you should be the one to start." As he finished talking, Ozpin hit a few keys on his keyboard, and the faces of the people in Atlas were displayed across the back of the room slightly set to the right, with Qrow's face on the left.

"Earlier tonight, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee," Winter visibly shifted uncomfortably, "Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long were discovered, unconscious, on the roof of Atlas' Military Headquarters after one of the airships patrolling the sky above Vetro Plaza saw a bright light shining on the roof they weren't warned about beforehand."

"Any idea until they wake up?" Jaune asked, his worry filling his voice.

Amber sighed, "They're not, not on their own."

"What?" Jaune looked over at the older Huntress.

"This is why you've been heading out of the Kingdom so much isn't it?" Coco asked, looking at her.

Amber nodded, "They're trapped in an illusion."

"An incredibly powerful and dangerous one," Qrow added.

"How can an illusion keep them from waking up?" Sun asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's something that started happening around twenty years ago," Ironwood said.

"But that doesn't-"

"Sun Wukong," Amber said, getting his attention. "You and your team are from Mistral, correct?" Sun nodded. "Have you heard the story of The Man and the Boy?"

"The old fairy tale?" Sun asked, sounding confused. Amber nodded. "I have, but I fail to see what that has to do with this?"

"I don't see either," Jaune said, "I heard the story from Pyrrha at one point, but I don't remember anything relating to this."

"Same here," Coco said, resting her head back on her hand.

"Could someone explain what you're talking about," Winter said, finally speaking up.

"Oh, sorry kid," Coco said, "it's an old Mistralton fairy tale."

"Miss Adel, your family," Ozpin said, his eyes flicking to Amber for a moment, "is from Mistral, maybe you could share it with us."

Coco shrugged, "I could if you think it will help."

"We do," Ironwood said.

"Let's see if I remember it all."

_Making his way into a new Kingdom, the Man was shunned by all who lived there. The Mark of Death moved with the Man wherever he went, and it was all the people saw when they looked at him. No one would do anything for him, and he was left surrounded by people, but still completely alone until one day a Boy gave the starving Man some food. The Man was incredibly grateful, and the Boy was happy to help someone in need, and the two became friends._

_The people from the Kingdom, however did not like this, and one night, they tried to attack the Man. The Man sent his attackers away with images of the war that had destroyed his home and the demons of the wilderness. These images caused his attackers to run off in fear. The next night, the attackers came again, and the Man created more of the horrific images. This repeated every night, while every day the Boy would come and talk with the Man. It was these days that kept the Man going through the nights._

_When his attackers grew emboldened enough to not fear his images, the Man struck back. He created images so real they brought harm to his attackers, and struck them down. When the sun rose again, the families of the people who had been killed, came and found their dead family members, and the one who had lead the attack night after night, was visited by the Boy. Seeing the intense pain on the Boy's face, the Man repented for what he had done, and begged the Boy for forgiveness. But the Boy rejected the Man, and ran away, leaving the Man alone in his sadness._

_More people, each angrier than the last, attacked the Man, forcing him to defend himself again. This repeated, night after night until one day, the Boy visited him again. The day passed as they talked, until dawn approached. In surprise, the Man looked up at the rising Sun and wondered why he hadn't been attacked that day. To answer his question, the Boy told him there was no one left to attack him. They had all been struck down by the Man's images. The more the Boy spoke, the more the Man's heart broke ever more._

_Letting his grief spill forth, the Man left the now empty Kingdom, and banished himself from all contact into the wilderness, never to be seen again._

"I think that was it," Coco said, finishing the story.

"There's a little more at the beginning but that's the important parts," Amber said.

"All I got from that was a depressing story," Jaune sighed out.

Ozpin smiled, "It's a story told to warn children about the dangers of making your own worst enemies."

"But the reason it's important here," Qrow said, "is that most tales have some basis in reality, which brings us to Amber here."

Amber nodded, "The idea that an illusionist might be powerful enough to make those caught in the illusions feel them has fascinated illusionists for a long time. Myself included."

"But how does this relate to them being unconscious?" Jaune asked.

"Because making people actually interact with a normal illusion is impossible," Qrow said, the aggravation in his voice intensifying his already slurred speech. "The entire reason illusions work is because they mess with people's heads. To make the target feel the illusion, their minds to be the ones doing all the work. _That's_ why they won't wake up. They're stuck in there. That's what the man in the story would have to have done, and that's what whoever it is that got to my nieces and their friends did."

* * *

"You're home from work late," Beige said as Silver entered the apartment. Silver just smiled tiredly, set her purse down, collapsed onto their couch on Beige's left side, and leaned into her husband's arms. "Busy day?" Silver nuzzled his shoulder a moment before nodding. Beige laughed a bit. "Well, we still have some-" He was cut off by his scroll ringing. "Really?" he asked himself. Pulling his scroll out of his pocket, he stared at the number for a moment before bringing the scroll up to his ear. "Yes, councilman?" Beige answered in surprise. Silver looked up at him, clearly surprised as well. "Well, today's kind of important to me, but of course I can. I'll be there in a short while."

"A councilman called?" Silver asked, closing her eyes as Beige set down his scroll.

"And he wants me to come to his office in the capitol building," Beige answered, beginning to stroke Silvers tail. As she smiled, he continued. "We'll have the rest of the night, but I have to head out. It _had_ to be today apparently."

"Oh well," Silver said, leaning up and kissing Beige's jaw. Looking down, Beige returned the kiss, before standing up. "I'll set up a few things for when you get back then." Beige smiled as he made his way out of the apartment. Due to the late time, the traffic was light, and he was able to make it to Vetro Plaza with little issue.

"Beige Brenin?" the security guard manning the desk inside the capitol building's lobby asked as he entered.

"I am he."

The guard nodded as she began escorting Beige, "I figured. Not too many people with scars like yours."

Beige let out a small laugh and nodded, "I suppose that's true."

"Anyway, here we are," the security guard said, stopping in front of one of the doors. "When you return to the lobby, you'll be checked to make sure you didn't steal anything."

"Understood," Beige said as she departed. Turning back towards the door, Beige walked right into the office.

"I was expecting it to take longer for you to get here," the councilman said as Beige walked into his office.

Beige smiled professionally. "Yes, well traffic was light, and I drove as quickly as I was allowed. Now, councilman, if you don't mind me asking, can we make this brief?

"If you wish, but may I ask why?"

"Well, today is my anniversary," Beige answered, "and I would like to spend as much time with my wife as I can."

"A sentiment I can respect," the councilman said as Beige sat down. "Well, to get straight to business: I would like you to come and work under me."

"This is quite sudden," Beige said, not sounding surprised.

"I imagine it can't be all that sudden," the councilman stood. "Your poll results a few days ago were quite a sight. Especially among faunus voters." Beige followed him out of the office and down the hallway and out into a large room. Looking around, Beige realized where they were.

"The main chamber," he said, looking around the room. "I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes."

"And yet you were running for office," the councilman pointed out.

"Yes, well I hardly expected to win," Beige said, looking at the three chairs sitting higher than the rest. "This is where the Grand Councilman sit."

"Yes, with a nice vantage point over the rest of us," the councilman said. Beige nodded and looked over the rest of the room below him. The room, overall, was rather barren. There was one long table that stretched in a semicircle around the top of the emblem for the Kingdom of Atlas. The table was wooden, with nineteen chairs set for it. Of the chairs, only five of them were marked. The centermost chair was marked with the symbol for Outlook Academy. The two chairs to the right of center were labelled with the symbols of the Army and Air Force, while the two to the left had the labels of the Navy and Coast Guard. Following Beige's line of sight, the councilman smiled. "Ah yes, the chairs that earn us the ire of some of the other Kingdoms."

Moving back to where the councilman was standing, Beige kept his eyes wandering over the room as he spoke. "To be fair, no other Kingdom reserves council chairs should the heads of any of the military branches or the headmaster of the local academy want to have a say in the goings on."

The councilman bowed his head, "That is very true, but it is not what we're here to discuss."

"Ah, yes, me working for you," Beige said, turning his attention back towards the councilman. "I'm afraid, I'm going to have to decline the offer."

"May I ask why?"

"You may," Beige said, bowing his head. "You're up for reelection come the end of the year."

"Well, that's hardly a secret," the councilman said.

"That's true," Beige began pacing around the center of the room while he talked. "What's also true, is that you also score _very_ poorly among the faunus in your district."

"Yes, well historically-"

"Historically the opinion polls among faunus hold no weight in elections," Beige finished for him. "True. Also true is that that's only because they don't vote, not because they vote for someone else. But then I come along, and they vote for me. In the general elections for the full city, that doesn't matter much, but for a district that's around eighty three percent faunus, it makes a huge difference. So here you are, wanting me to support you so they'll vote for you instead of someone else."

"Well that's-" the councilman started, his confidence deteriorating.

"That's what?" Beige asked, looking at him, his confidence unharmed. "Unimportant? You've never done a thing to help the faunus in your district, and they know it. They're not going to vote for you. But unlike normally, it's because some of them are going to vote for someone else." Smiling haughtily, Beige turned and began walking towards the door back to the hall they'd come in from.

"And what?" the councilman said, his nerves and anger growing. "They're going to vote for you!?"

Beige stopped in front of the door and laughed. "No. I hate politics with a passion. If I think I can win, I'm not even going to try. But that's the thing. _I _don't need to win the next election to win this bout. You just need to lose. And if I was a betting man, I'd say that the upstanding faunus who's been trying to campaign against you for the last year might just be the one to take it away from you."

"So you did all that to get me out of office!? Why do you even care!? You don't even live in that district! You and your wife live on the opposite side of the city in an apartment building reserved for current and former military personnel and their families!"

"Very true, but I just don't think a human can truly appreciate what the faunus go through enough to even claim to represent them."

"Why do you care so much for the faunus?" the councilman asked, his shouts having been replaced by a more tranquil sounding fury. "Sure she has a tail, but you and your wife live comfortably, why do all of this for them?

"Because even if racism has fallen to all time lows, it still exists."

"Yes they still face some discrimination, but what makes you think it's so bad that you need to put me out of office? What could a human have possibly gone through to do all this?"

"This human," Beige said darkly, looking back at him, his burn thrown into sharp relief by the room's lighting, "lost his only daughter."

* * *

"Weiss," Winter said weakly as she looked down at her sister. She'd only just been allowed to visit her since she'd been told what happened. Ruby was unconscious in the room's second bed. Blake and Yang were just across the hallway. "I was told you were friends with that other Huntress in Vale, Coco. Well, her aunt's going to get you out of this," she tried smiling weakly as she spoke, but all it succeeded in doing was bringing the tears she was fighting back to the surface. "I know I was angry at you, but you didn't deserve _this_. Just… whatever it is you're seeing in there, I hope it's pleasant."

"I suppose that's all we can hope for now," Neptune's voice came from behind her. Winter jumped and looked back towards the door. The blue haired boy was standing in the doorway, looking distraught.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"I walked in just in time to hear the end of what you were saying," Neptune said, walking up to the opposite side of Weiss' bed.

Winter nodded, looking back at her sister. "They said Amber's going to be here in only a few hours, right?"

Neptune nodded, "She's taking a fast interkingdom airship." He smiled a bit, "It may be uncomfortable, but it'll get her here around sunrise." Winter nodded slowly as she stood up.

"I'm… I'm going to head home," she said, tearing her eyes from her sister. "I can't stay here with her like this. Not," she shook her head, "not right now."

Neptune nodded, "You want help?"

Winter shook her head turning back to the door, "No, I can make it back on my own. Traffic should be light."

"Alright," Neptune said as the younger Schnee made her way out of the room. Standing up, Neptune walked out as well, and made his way into the next room over, where he saw Sun sitting down at Blake's bedside, saying nothing as Scarlet and Sage stood next to him. "How's he doing?" he whispered behind the blonde boy.

"He's doing alright," Sage said. "Talking to her like he normally does."

"So, not that much and awkwardly when he does," Neptune said, prompting Sun to laugh a bit as he stood up.

"Thanks man, I needed that," the blonde boy said.

"No problem," Neptune said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"So, what are we going to do?" Scarlet asked.

"I'm going to wait for Amber to show up," Sun said, turning to face the others. His face was downcast, but he looked determined.

"Sounds like a plan," Neptune said, holding a fist in the air, level with his face. "Only a few hours, right?" The others nodded, and they made their way out of the room, and into the nearest elevator. Pushing the button for the top floor, a voice called out over the intercom. "Who is trying to access that floor?"

"Sun Wukong, Scarlet David, Sage Ayana, and Neptune Vasilias. We wish to visit General Ironwood's office."

"Hold on one moment… understood, the General accepted, you will be escorted to his office when the doors open."

The elevator ascended quickly, and when the doors opened, two droids and one soldier were waiting for them. In silence, they made their way through the hallways and into Ironwood's office.

"We covered everything," Ironwood said as they entered the room. "What brings you back?"

"We want to be here when Amber arrives," Sage answered.

Ironwood nodded, "That's perfectly fine, but I have a few things I need to attend to. Head back to the elevator, I'll send word down to the confirmation desk. You'll be taken down to a floor with several conference rooms. You can wait in one of them, I'll message one of your scrolls when Amber's ship gets close." The young men nodded, and left the room.

Several hours later, as the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, they were standing on the roof of the building, waiting. General Ironwood, two other Atlas soldiers, and a number of droids that had been watching over the roof since Team RWBY was discovered joining them. In the distance, a small, sleek airship descended towards the landing pad. Almost immediately upon landing, the rear door facing them opened. The first person to exit was not Amber, but two Vale soldiers carrying a stretcher, Amber exiting right behind him.

"Who's this?" Sage asked as he looked at the stretcher as the Vale soldiers set it down.

"Junior!?" Neptune asked in surprise as he recognized the man while the two Atlas soldiers took up the stretcher and began carrying it off as well.

"Yes," Ironwood answered as the two Vale soldiers returned to the airship. "He was trapped in an illusion as well. Amber will be aiding him alongside Team RWBY."

Amber nodded, watching Junior be carried into the elevator "He should be the first one out, I've been working on him for about a week at this point. Whatever Yang did to him, he really hates her, and yet fears her to the point of being hilarious. Anyway," she turned back towards Ironwood. "Hello General, where're the girls?"

"A few floors below us."

"Then let's get started," Amber said, walking towards the elevator as well. "I want to at least see what the four of them are experiencing before getting any rest."

* * *

"Schnee!" Albero's voice called across the lobby of the military headquarters.

Turning around, Winter waited for him to catch up to her. "What is it, sir?"

"Take this," he handed her an ID card.

"What is this for?" she looked over it. It was white bordered, with the symbol of the wider Atlas armed forces in the top right corner with her picture taking up most of the front of it, and her name occupying the bottom. On the back was nothing but a magnetic strip.

"That will become your key to working here when the time comes, but for now, it will let you access the hospital floor and get into your sister's room without needing authentication."

"This…" she trailed off before looking up at her future boss. "Sir, is this-"

"Allowed," Albero moved his head a bit, a mischievous expression on his face. "Technically yes, but I wouldn't recommend coming during the day."

"Thank you," Winter said, feeling overjoyed. "Sir, this is-"

"It's nothing," Albero waved her off. "Now, I have a few things to attend to. I'd recommend getting some sleep, it's rather late."

Winter nodded, and walked out of the building, and drove home, the sky still pitch black. As time passed, her joy at Albero's gift was quickly eroded away by her returning sadness, and by the time she walked back into the apartment, she was on the verge of tears again.

Without changing or even turning on the lights at all, Winter climbed onto the couch, and curled up a bit. She had no idea how much time had passed since she'd gotten back when she stood back up and turned on the lights. Sitting in silence for a few moments, she pulled out her scroll and began dialing.

"Winter?" Scarlett answered the call. "It's a bit past one in the morning."

"Hello," Winter said. "Um…"

"Are you okay?" Scarlett's voice grew concerned.

"I'm… no," Winter's voice nearly broke. "I'm not. Weiss and her friends were attacked, and are stuck in the hospital."

"What!?" Scarlett's sounded incredulous. "Are they going to be okay?"

"They will, but," Winter took a deep breath, "it's not going to be for a while. I'm back at the apartment, but… Scarlett, I just don't want to be alone right now."

"Winter…" Scarlett sounded torn. "I… I got called into work, I'll be there as soon as I can, alright, but I don't think I'll be able to get there for a while."

"Al-alright," Winter said, on the verge of tears again.

"I'm sorry," Scarlett said, sounding crushed at the sound of Winter's voice. Lying down on the couch, Winter tried losing herself in some of her music.

Nearly two hours later, a ring came from the terminal connecting to the lobby. Sitting up quickly, Winter stopped the music, and walked over to the terminal. "Can you let me up?" Scarlett asked as soon as her face appeared on the screen. Winter just nodded and allowed it before walking over to the door to the apartment and opened it, waiting for the elevator doors to open. When they finally did, Winter walked up to Scarlett and started crying into the woman. "Winter…"

"Scarlett, I'm just," Winter shook her head into the redhead's chest.

"Here, come stay with me," Scarlett said.

Winter looked up at the older woman in slight surprise. "W-what?"

"Come stay with me," Scarlett repeated. "At least for the night. I don't think you'll do well here."

"Okay," Winter answered, her voice the weakest Scarlett had ever heard it. Scarlett put her arm around Winter and they walked back to the elevator in silence and made their way out of the elevator.

"I heard you were taking a job at the military," Scarlett said as they walked down the sidewalk towards the nearest parking structure.

"Yes," Winter said weakly. "Dust R&amp;D for their robotics program."

"Well I'm sure they'll benefit greatly from having you on their side," Scarlett said, trying to cheer Winter up, and smiled when she saw a small smile cross the girl's face. "So for R&amp;D, I guess you'll be working under General Ironwood."

"Technically," Winter said, her problems going to the back of her mind.. "But he's going to be busy with preparing for Outlook's next semester before I start working, and even if he wasn't I doubt I'd actually be dealing with him all that much. Instead I'll be reporting to the program's secondary head, and-"

"Albero Polendina?" Scarlett asked.

"Yes," Winter looked up at her confused. "You know him?"

"Only professionally," Scarlett said. "I met him in preparation for the SDC gala. He was nice, if a little gruff."

Winter's smile grew a little larger, "That was the impression I had. I met with him and General Ironwood just earlier today to go over some basics. But as I was saying, beyond Polendina, I'll be reporting directly to a man named Lehti, who's the head of the Dust subdepartment."

Scarlett nodded. "Anything classified you can tell me?" she asked playfully as they entered the parking structure.

"That's classified," Winter said, laughing weakly, wiping the last few tears from her eyes. "But no, it was just a quick tour of the facilities. The closest I got to anything classified was something that's publicly available, just not talked about much. There were some areas they wouldn't let me see, and they probably did have anything they didn't want me to see in the main areas removed beforehand."

"Ah, standard military fair," Scarlett shook her head. "Working for your father," Winter tensed up a bit in her arm, "it's fine. But working for him, especially in my position, I've dealt with a lot of military personnel over the years. They love their secrets, and their acronyms, but mostly their secrets." Winter laughed a bit again as they entered Scarlett's car. "Although I guess that's the government in general."

"Thank you," Winter said as they started driving.

"If you're thanking me for helping you feel a bit better, don't," Scarlett said. "I'd do anything for you and Weiss." Winter nodded as they lapsed into a peaceful silence as they finished the rest of the journey. "Okay, so I don't really have a place meant for two people," Scarlett said as they walked into the older woman's apartment.

"It's fine, I can take the couch," Winter said, sitting down on it. "We weren't able to buy a fold out before… anyway, that's what I've been doing at the other place too."

Scarlett nodded, "Alright. It's late, I'd suggest getting some sleep, we can talk some more in the morning." Winter nodded, took off her shoes, and lay down. As she closed her eyes, her mind shifted back to the events of the day, and she curled up a bit.

Yawning a bit, Winter sat up, and looked around the apartment. Light trailed in through the windows. Looking around, she saw Scarlett sitting at a small table on the other side of the room. "What time is it?" she asked as she walked up to the table as well.

"Around noon," Scarlett said, looking up at the white haired girl. "I called in saying I felt ill, and took the day off. How are you?"

Winter sighed, "I feel… okay. But I have no idea how I'll be when I see Weiss next."

"Do you know how long it'll take for her and the others to recover?" Scarlett asked. Winter just shook her head. "Well, you're free to stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you," Winter said. "Although I'm going to have to go get a few things."

Scarlett nodded, "That's perfectly fine. We can head out after you get something to eat."

* * *

"So Pyrrha and Nora have their weapons repaired now?" Velvet asked as she and Coco walked down the streets of Vale.

"Nora does," Jaune's voice came out of her scroll. "Like I said, it just needed to be put back together, but Pyrrha still has a lot left to do since hers was completely wrecked instead of just taken apart. Ren and I are helping as best we can. Well, Nora is too, but she's mostly just bending metal, we can't really let her near anything else or it ends up broken."

"How much longer do you think it will take for Pyrrha to finish?" Velvet asked, feeling concerned.

"Maybe a week?" Jaune guessed. "We were lucky she was able to save some of the pieces, but there's still a lot of small custom parts that need to be forged and fitted. Beacon's got a lot of parts on hand already, but they're meant for repairs and upgrades, not basically forging an entire weapon from scratch. It's just a nightmare, so we're making a trip to Signal today to see if we can get some of their parts to make things easier."

"Alright," Velvet said. "We'll update you when we're done."

"Thanks," Jaune said, hanging up.

"This the place?" Coco asked as they walked up to a police station.

"It should be the one," Velvet answered.

"Alright then," Coco answered, walking inside. Numerous officers were moving around, some between offices, some entering and exiting, and a few just moving between desks. "Busy place."

"Yes ma'am," the officer working the desk said. "We've had a busy week."

Coco nodded, "You're not the only one. Let me guess, another fire?"

"Is there really any question, it's been all over the news," the officer said. "So, what can I help you two ladies with?"

"We'd actually like to know more about the fires," Velvet said.

"Unfortunately, all the info on that is being kept confidential," the officer said, looking between the two of them suspiciously, causing Velvet to shrink back slightly.

Coco half smiled, "We know. We were also thinking maybe we can help you a bit." She set her scroll down on the desk.

"Huntresses?" he looked between the two of them. Coco just smirked a bit.

"Come with me," the officer said, walking through a door, holding it open for them. Both Huntresses walked through and followed him a hallway and into a waiting room. "I'll have to discuss this with the chief. Don't be disappointed if you don't hear anything."

"That's fine," Coco said as Velvet sat quietly. Ten minutes later, a uniformed and decorated officer walked in unaccompanied. "The chief?"

"That's me," she said, her tone extremely professional. "Wait, you were some of the Huntsmen involved in that brawl five days ago."

"We are," Coco smiled.

"So, what's got two Huntresses interested in these fires." Her eyes shifted to Velvet, "Do you live in the area?"

"I do," Velvet said. "And I know plenty of people there."

"And besides, arson is pretty serious in general." Coco added.

The chief nodded, an annoyed expression on her face. "As much as I would love to say we can solve this on our own, we've found nothing at all new at the scenes of the last few fires," she sighed, her pride obviously damaged. "Normally I wouldn't agree to having Huntresses help out, the idea of putting up a request on the mission boards never even crossed my mind, but even if it loses us some evidence, we need the help."

Coco nodded, "Well, we can promise the help of four Huntsmen, maybe up to eight to keep track of the areas at risk."

"Eight!?" the chief asked in disbelief.

Coco nodded, "Two full teams. The two involved in that brawl you mentioned earlier."

The chief shook her head. "You're just going to be in the area anyway if I say no aren't you?"

"We are," Coco confirmed.

"The person you fought, were they the arsonist?" the chief asked.

"No," Velvet said, "but we have reason to believe she'd be very interested in stopping the arsonist. We want to make sure she doesn't go too far."

The chief nodded, looking glum. "The only reason to have that many Huntsmen looking for one person like this is a rogue Huntress."

Velvet nodded, "Yes, a well trained and very powerful one."

* * *

"Alright, where are we looking today?" Neptune asked as he met up with his teammates at a restaurant just north of Ao Plaza.

"Well, after putting it off, we're finally delving into the main faunus populated area of the city," Scarlet answered.

"Well, at least it's not too far," Neptune said, pulling out his scroll and checking a map. "Yeah, it's just northeast of here."

"But, it's large," Scarlet pointed out.

"Very, but it's been a week and a half since we started looking for the WF," Sage said, using the White Fang's initials in case someone overheard them talking. "We should have started in the area immediately."

"Yeah, well we can't undo the past," Sun said, as a waitress approached. "But it's not like we weren't doing anything." Sage nodded as they ordered.

Half an hour later, and the four of them left the restaurant and set out through the streets. The further they went into the area, the less and less crowded the sidewalks became, despite the traffic on the roads becoming, if anything, worse than elsewhere.

"Is this a residential area?" Neptune asked after a few streets.

"Not according to the map," Scarlet answered. "From what I'm seeing, this is prime office area for faunus run businesses. But there is an open square not too far we can check out. Should be plenty of people there."

"Alright then, which way?" Sun asked. Scarlet pointed towards a side road on the other side of the incredibly busy street. "Of course it is."

Crossing the street, they made their way down the side path, and soon found themselves in a completely different arrangement. The streets leading up to the square were blocked from allowing vehicles into the area, and, further down the road, was a large crowd of people all gathered and cheering. Making their way down the road, they saw a platform in the middle of the square that everyone was gathered around, but they couldn't make out what or who was on it.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Scarlet asked a pair of men as they got closer.

"You live under a rock?" one of them asked. "How could you not know?"

"Ignore him, he's just a human in an area he doesn't belong," the second said.

"I was just asking a question," Scarlet said, clearly put off.

"Yeah, well maybe you should just stick to where you belong," the second man said rudely.

"Leave him alone," Sage said, stepping in.

"Or what?" the man asked disdainfully.

"Hey, just drop it," his friend said to him.

"No, a couple of humans come here and start-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sun cut in. "We're not looking to cause trouble. We're just new to the area, and want info."

"You must be new to the Kingdom if you don't know," the second man said, calming down a bit at the sight of another faunus.

"We are, we're a team of Huntsmen that transferred from Mistral less than half a month ago," Sun said. "So, could you please fill us in on what it is we're dealing with here."

The second man grunted, and turned around, revealing a small black wolf tail, "We're preparing for an appearance by Seryy Lisa."

"And that is…" Sun started.

"He's been campaigning for this district's council position for the last year," the first man said, turning and revealing his own short grey dog tail.

"I thought you just had elections," Neptune said.

"Those were for the Grand Council, this is for the main council," the second man said as a man took the stage, his face broadcast on the surrounding buildings. His hair was orange, but was graying with age, and numerous lines were making themselves known on his face. He looked to be around sixty, but he moved with the energy of a much younger man. He was dressed in a professional attire, however, his long sleeved coat and pants seemed more apt for the temperature than most suits worn by men of his age at the cost of some of its formal appearance. Completing his appearance was his orange fox tail, extending almost all the way to the floor, and while it was graying as well, it was far more colorful than the top of his head.

"Hello my brothers and sisters," he said, opening his arms wide to the crowd. His voice was calm and friendly without losing a professional edge. "For years, this area has been 'represented' by a man who has no interest in helping us. A man who has no idea what it is like for us. So why would we give our voice to someone like this? It is time to make a change!" he paused as cheering erupted from part of his audience. "No faunus has ever been elected to the Atlas Council, and they claim it is impossible. Well let's show them just how possible it is!" The crowd began cheering even louder.

"We must escape the shadow that has been cast over us by the actions of a few. The White Fang does not speak for us, and we must not allow the rest of the world to think they do! It is time to show the world what the silent majority think!"

"I like this guy," Sun smiled.

"I don't think you're the only one," Scarlet said as the cheering intensified the more the man spoke. "He certainly knows how to work a crowd."

"Get them excited and invested from the start before you start sprinkling in the boring things," Sage observed. "You're right, he certainly knows how to work a crowd."

"He does, but he's also not why we're here," Sun said, looking away from the stage. "I don't think we'll be able to ask anyone here about our search. And we definitely can't ask him. He'd probably bring it up at another speech to rally support."

"He would, but I wonder if those he stands against would be interested in what he has to say as well," Sage said, looking around as well.

Sun looked up at the surrounding buildings, "That one," he pointed at what was clearly a hotel opposite the stage, "should have a view of everything. Maybe we'll spot something."

"Let's hope we can get higher up," Neptune said as they began making their way through the crowd towards the building.

"Sorry, we're not serving anyone at the rally," the attendant at the front desk said as they walked in. "We need to keep our supplies for our guests."

"We're actually looking for a room, preferably on the third or fourth floor and facing the rally," Sun said.

"Oh, well I'm sorry to say we can't do that," the attendant said looking at them suspiciously.

"We're not going to do anything to the rally," Neptune said, pulling out his scroll, and showed his info to him. "We're Huntsman, see?"

"Were you hired to protect the rally?" the attendant asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes," Sun lied. "And we think looking at it from a third or fourth floor balcony would make things easier."

"Of course," the attendant said, immediately becoming more compliant. He pulled out a keycard, and ran it through a scanner. "Room 3-14, it should put you right over the rally."

"Thank you," Sun said, taking the card, and immediately made his way over to the elevator, the others following him.

"I hate lying like that," Scarlet said as the elevator began ascending.

"Yeah, well it makes things easier," Sun said.

"Plus we can't really tell him what we're actually looking for," Sage pointed out as the doors opened. The hallway was empty, and they made their way to their room without running into another person.

"This room is tiny," Neptune said as they walked in.

"I think it was meant for two people at most," Sage said as Sun opened the door out to the balcony. "Preferably one."

"Still better than our apartment," Scarlet said. "We really need to find a place closer to what the girls have instead of two cheap places."

"Just come out here," Sun called back from the balcony. Every other balcony around them was occupied as well, as the various rooms' inhabitants were watching Seryy's speech. However, that wasn't what any of the four Huntsmen were looking at, nor were they looking at the stage. Their eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for anything suspicious.

"There!" Neptune called out, pointed towards a side street not that far from where they were. A small group of young women seemed distracted and were acting shady.

"I'll head down and check on it," Sun said, leaving quickly. Instead of walking back through the room, he instead jumped off the balcony. His tail caught the railing, causing him to swing into the balcony below them.

"Some things never change," Neptune sighed out as a man yelled out in surprise. Looking down over the edge, Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet saw Sun jump from the lower balcony into the back of the crowd, much to the annoyance of the people he nearly landed on top of. The man from the lower balcony ran to the railing and looked out before glaring up at them. Scarlet just waved awkwardly at him as Sun approached the people Neptune had pointed out as quickly as he could through the crowd.

"So, what do you think of his speech?" Sun asked when he got close.

The oldest woman of the group shrugged. She looked to be in her late twenties with a pair of small antlers atop her head. She also had nearly pure white platinum blonde hair that reached down to her shoulder blades and was a close match to her pale complexion. "I think he says a lot, but so does every politician."

"Yeah, but at least what he has to say sounds promising," Sun said.

"So is everything else said before elections," she said, looking at him, allowing him to see her eyes that were the same shade of grey as dark smoke.. "But I can't deny he'll probably at least try something in office."

"With a tan like that, you don't look like you're from around here," the youngest girl in the group, who looked to only be a teenager, said. She had antlers that were nearly identical to the first woman's.

"You're right, I'm not," Sun shrugged, smiling "Just recently moved here from Mistral."

"You chose the wrong Kingdom to move to," the oldest woman said.

"Well, it was for business," Sun shrugged again.

"What kind of business does someone your age work at?" the girl asked, curious.

"The same kind that had me move to Mistral from Vacuo in the first place, and let me visit Vale for a while a few years back."

"You're well traveled," the oldest woman said, her eyes narrowing a bit. "You only really hear stories like that from military and Huntsmen."

"Yeah, well Haven was definitely rough, but worth it," Sun laughed awkwardly.

"You _are_ a Huntsman," the woman said in surprise that seemed slightly forced. An uncomfortable air quickly coming over the group she was with.

"Yeah," Sun said, turning back towards the crowd. "Hired to make sure nothing suspicious happens."

"Is that so?" the woman asked, her voice sounding off.

"Ash, wha-" the girl's voice cut off as Sun caught a glimpse of Scarlet signaling something from the balcony. Quickly turning around, Sun pulled out his weapons from a hidden pocket in his coat. Combining them together into a staff in a single, well practiced movement, the end stopped just under the oldest woman's chin.

"Any reason why you decided to leave after I said what I do?" he asked as the woman glared at him, and the people around them in the crowd cried out and backed away.

"Oh, well, you see," a smoke bomb went off, causing nearly everyone in the area to cry out and Seryy to stop speaking. Sun recoiled back for a moment, but charged through. The women were running down the road, and turned into an alley. Sun ran after them, and turning the alley, broke his staff apart and took quick aim with one of the shotguns. With one shot, most of the women ducked, only the oldest one staying standing. Sun's shot was deflected out of the air by a quick slice from a concealed dagger, a small crater appearing in the side of the building next to her.

Sun ran towards her, firing as he did. When he got close enough, he ducked under her attack, and swung Ruyi Bang. The nunchaku struck her side with an audible thumping noise as the force knocked her back. Taking her place was a woman in her early twenties, striking out with her own dagger as the others began retreating. With two quick strikes, she was knocked out, and Sun ran down the rest of the alley.

The end of the alley was a small junction of other side streets, which quickly spread into more side streets and alleys. Grunting in anger, Sun returned back to the knocked out woman as he saw a crowd of people staring at him. Seryy was at the front, glaring at him.

"What happened here?" he demanded. When Sun pulled out his scroll, he walked forward. "Who are you, and why did you disrupt the event. Boy, listen to me!" he started yelling as he grabbed Sun's arm.

Sun pulled his arm away from Seryy's grasp as he pulled up his info. "I'm a Huntsman. This woman and her friends were going to cause even more trouble if I hadn't intervened."

"What is a Huntsman doing here?" Seryy asked, backing off, in caution if not in respect.

"We were patrolling and came upon your event," Sun said as he began dialing. "If you want to know more, you'll have to call General Ironwood." Seryy raised his eyebrows as Sun spoke into his scroll. "I'm going to need transport of a detainee."

"Doing the military's work I see. I thought that was reserved for Specialists," Seryy scoffed.

"Ha ha," Sun said sarcastically as he walked forward, the crowd parting. Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune standing behind them. Within minutes, an airship landed in the middle of the square the event had been held in. Walking up to it, Sun set the woman down in the middle of the open back.

"Thank you, we'll take her to the Tartarus right away," the soldier saluted as the back of the airship began to close.

"The Tartarus?" Sun asked in confusion.

"Yes, sir," the soldier said as the back of the airship closed entirely. As the airship took off, Sun turned to his friends.

"What's the Tartarus?"

"It's Atlas' highest security prison," Seryy said, his face white as a ghost. Speaking quietly he continued. "Reserved only for the worst repeat criminals, war prisoners, and terrorists. Is she in the White Fang?"

"We don't know, all we know is that she and at least one other member of her group was armed and dangerous."

"But if they're taking her directly there, then there must be some reason."

"Look, we don't know what goes through the military's heads," Scarlet said.

Seryy ignored them and turned back to the crowd, his voice now loud and booming, carrying through the area. "Look at this! If you want more proof as to the White Fang's hypocrisy, look no further! A small sect of them was attempting to silence me because I want advancement through peace instead of through blood!"

* * *

Junior shot up in his bed, panting heavily and sweating. In the seat next to where he lay, Amber covered her face and took a deep breath. "I could have done without seeing most of that."

"You going to tell me what is going on now?" Junior demanded as two androids aimed rifles at him. "What!? What are Atlas bots doing here?"

"That would be because you're in Atlas," Amber said, standing.

"Why!?" he jumped a bit when the androids took a step closer.

"Prep him for interrogation," Amber said, shaking her head. "I think I have a headache coming on from that."

"You have a headache!?" Junior asked incredulously before slumping back in the bed as exhaustion came over him. He was woken up by a loud slamming noise. He was now sitting in a small room. His legs were bound to the legs of a metal chair, and he was seated at a small table. Across from him was Amber, and behind her was a floor to ceiling, wall to wall mirror. "I'm guessing I'm still in Atlas."

"For now," Amber said. "When I'm done with you, you'll be transferred back to Vale for trial." Junior opened his mouth for a moment before closing it as a cocky smile appeared on Amber's lips. "Nice benefit of how I need to wake you up, I get to learn the truth. A lot of people in this world are more than willing to take a Huntress at her word."

"So, what do you want to know?" he asked, his anger poorly hidden.

"Well, first of all, I'd like to know what you remember about how you were put in the illusion."

Junior sighed. "I don't know his name. Young guy, clean shaven, long blonde hair. Don't remember his eye color. Wore different clothes every time he came in."

"So you met with him several different times?" Amber asked.

Junior nodded, "He wanted to get his hands on some old port security footage. I have no idea what he wanted it for, but I'm not in the business of asking questions, just answering them."

"How old are we talking?" Amber raised one of her eyebrows.

"Around twenty," Junior shrugged. "Wasn't a teenager, but certainly wasn't in his thirties."

"I mean the footage," Amber corrected.

"Oh," Junior said lamely. "Then still twenty. Let me tell you, a huge pain to get. The port doesn't keep their records that long, I had to go through the government."

"You went to the government for port records?" Amber sounded surprised.

"No, I went to the government for _their _records. They've had cameras all over the place for a long time, and they _never_ get rid of that stuff, they just put it on servers they no longer care about. I had to pull a few favors, but I got what I needed."

"And what did you get?" Amber asked.

"I have no clue," Junior shrugged. "He just wanted them for the late summer and early fall for that year, sometime around noon to three in the afternoon."

"So you got it and just handed it to him?"

"Ha!" Junior fake laughed. "What do you take me for? No, I looked over it, or rather I had some of my men look it over. About what I expected. A lot of people going in and out."

Amber nodded, "So, what happened when he came the last time?"

"Wouldn't you have seen that when you broke me out?"

"I only saw the bright white light when his hand covered your face," Amber answered. "So, what happened?"

Junior grunted, "He came in, made like an army of himself, illusions I guess, and knocked me out. Next thing I knew, I was lying on my stomach. When I tried to stand, he knocked me back down, placed his hand over my face, and I saw a white light."

"That's it?" Amber asked skeptically.

"Yes," Junior growled. "If I'm going away for everything you saw anyway, I have no reason to hide anything else. Can't exactly get a longer sentence. Not one I can fully serve anyway."

"So, what exactly is your issue with Yang Xiao Long?" Amber asked.

"Who?"

Amber laughed, "I guess some of your memories are still not back yet, interesting that that would be one of them, but oh well. Now, what do you call her, blondie?"

"Her!?" Junior yelled out, his blood seeming to boil at the mere mention of her. "She comes into my club, destroys nearly everything, beats up my men, hurts my high security, and punches me out of the building. I have a lot of issues with her."

"She must have come for a reason," Amber pointed out.

"They all do. She came for info on some woman. All she would give me to go off of is a single picture. Not much, all I could get from that is that she looks just like her. I figured it was her sister who turned criminal that she lost touch with. Or, at least I did think that before I actually found something on her."

"You found something?" Amber raised one of her eyebrows.

"Yep," Junior sat back in the chair, crossing his arms. "She was on one of the security recordings I got for the guy who knocked me out. From the other records I got off of that, I got her name too, and from there it was easy. Raven Branwen, a Huntress and rather powerful healer. If blondie had given me that much, it would have made my search so much easier."

"What was she doing at the port?" Amber asked.

"She was escorting some pink haired girl with a screwed up throat to Atlas," he shrugged.

Amber's eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly hid it behind an illusion, "Can you get more specific?"

"From what I could piece together from everything I got from that, she couldn't talk at all, also had this long gash" he shrugged again, waving his index finger side to side next to the side of his face. "Found nothing on her though, figured she hired blondie's mystery woman to heal that throat of hers while she went to, or I guess came to, Atlas for whatever reason."

"No theories on that?" Amber asked, feeling a little amused while her mind raced.

"Figured she lives ther- here."

Amber nodded, and stood, "We'll continue this tomorrow." She immediately walked out of the room, made her way down the main hall, into the elevator, and into a conference room.

"What have you learned?" Ironwood's face appeared on the screen. He was sitting in the headmaster's office of Outlook.

"He was taken out the same way everyone else was. Knocked out, then prevented from seeing his assailant's face when he began to come to."

"Can you think of a reason why an illusionist would make a conscious effort to keep his targets from seeing his face like this?"

Amber sighed, "The only thing I can come up with is whoever this is can't generate a Passive Illusion without dismissing his normal ones."

Ironwood nodded, "Anything else?"

Amber nodded, "Something my old partner and Qrow might be interested in hearing." Ironwood raised his eyebrows.

* * *

Ruby shot up in bed, shaking horribly. "That's one down," Amber said, sounding incredibly relieved.

"I'm out?" Ruby asked, looking around the room.

"You are," Amber confirmed. "You've been out for a month now."

"A month?" Ruby asked, sounding incredulous as she lay back down again. Amber nodded. "What about the others?"

"They're," Amber looked to the side, "still out." Following Amber's gaze, Ruby's eyes fell on Weiss. "Blake and Yang are just across the hall." Ruby nodded slowly as she brought her hands up to her head. Amber smiled sadly, "Unfortunately, you'll have a horrible headache for a while as the memories come back."

"How long will that take?" Ruby asked, as the headache grew worse.

"Most of it will come back within a few hours. You should be able to remember everything just fine by the end of the week."

"Do you know how long until you can get them out?" Ruby asked as her headache stopped growing stronger.

Amber shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. Everyone's different."

"What's the longest it's taken?" Ruby asked.

Amber sighed, "I'm not going to lie, there are a few that never I could never break out. But the longest it's taken me before success is three months." Ruby grunted in pain as she nodded. "You don't have to worry about falling back into it, so I'd recommend you get some sleep," Amber said as she stood. Before Ruby could even do anything, Amber had left.

A few minutes later, a nurse walked into the room, and changed something in the IV drip she was hooked up to. Before long, her already large drowsiness grew until she fell asleep. Ruby woke up in a panic, looking around wildly. She was still in the hospital room, but the lights were off, and the only other occupant was Weiss. Hitting a call button on her bed, Ruby calmed down a bit as Amber ran in.

"How long have I been out?" Ruby asked, her fear clear as day in her voice.

"About four hours," Amber said, waving off a nurse that came.

"I don't want to stay here," Ruby said, trying not to shake.

"Alright," Amber said. "I'll have them send in your clothes. I called your friends as soon as I left you. I think Winter's here, but the others I think are still out." Ruby nodded, prompting Amber to leave the room. Just outside the room, Ruby saw her talk with the nurse who had responded to the call. A moment later, Amber walked back into the room and sat down. "Now, can you tell me what you remember from Valak Mountain? At the very least just how this happened?"

"I," Ruby began rubbing her head again as her headache returned. "We were in the old SDC mining town. It was on fire, badly too. Weiss put it out, and we decided to set up camp for the night. When we went into the church, there was a man there."

"What did he look like?" Ruby shook her head. "Focus a little more, it'll come back to you."

"No," Ruby looked at the older woman. "That's the thing. I remember, but I have no idea what he looks like. He was wearing a long black coat, and a full face Grimm Mask," a shiver ran down Amber's spine, "but the markings were brown. And they glowed the entire time- no, no they stopped glowing at the end."

"What do you mean at the end?" Amber asked, a little faster than she'd intended. "When he put you in the illusion?"

"No," Ruby shook her head. "Before he put us in whatever illusion you broke us out of, he changed the scenery around us in the town. Weiss and I wandered around and endless maze of hallways for hours. We thought we'd been transported somewhere else, but I guess not. Eventually we came out of the hallway, and met him again, and he separated us. I," she rubbed the back of her head, "I remember that the last time I saw him, I had just dealt with what seemed like an army of Beowolves."

"You fought?"

Ruby shook her head, "No, after taking out the Grimm, I collapsed in exhaustion. The last thing I saw was his mask. It wasn't glowing anymore at this point, then he put his hand over my face, and then… just a white light."

"Thank you, Ruby," Amber patted her on the shoulder as she stood back up. "The nurse should be here any moment." Ruby nodded as Amber left the room. The Huntress hurried to her reserved conference room as quickly as she could, and immediately called everyone she could.

"Did someone else wake up?" Ironwood asked as his face, alongside Ozpin's, Qrow's, and Oobleck's appeared.

Amber shook her head, "No, I just talked with Ruby about what happened." She looked directly at Oobleck's picture, "She's not alone."

"What!?" he asked in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked.

"Ruby told me the person who did this clad themselves in a black coat and hid their face behind a Grimm Mask with brown markings. And when he moved to put her in the Passive Illusion, his mask wasn't glowing, despite it having been every previous time she saw him on the plateau, even if he wasn't doing anything." As she spoke, everyone else's eyes widened, bar Qrow's, whose remained in place as he took another drink from his flask.

"We should probably start expecting more to show up," Ozpin said.

""I have to agree to that," Qrow said. "Something's going on, and I doubt it's good."

* * *

"How are things progressing?" Adam asked, looking out a window at the mass of buildings stretching below him.

"They're going," Rowan answered, still wearing the standard White Fang outfit, however the mask had been replaced by a full face one with a few red markings showing his rank within the organization. "We still have no operations in Vale, but everyone in Vacuo and Mistral are ready to move when needed."

"And what of operations within the city?"

"Flawless," Ash answered, wearing a customized variant of the outfit that omitted the hood, but included a mask identical to Rowan's. "Nothing's happened since our single run in with that Huntsman two and a half weeks back. Our probes have gone unnoticed as far as we're aware, and we've had no one come knocking on our door."

Adam nodded. "What of Emerald and Mercury?"

"They received calls earlier today," Ash answered. "They start their jobs at the SDC in the next few days."

"Good, the information should start coming soon."

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Rowan asked. "They could rat us out at any moment."

"They won't," Adam said confidently. "They have no idea where we're based. They only know a few meeting points, and we have more than enough we could leak about them to get them locked up and more than likely executed, and they know it."

"I just don't like the idea of putting a job like this on a pair of humans instead of some of our clawed members," Rowan said.

"Drop it," Ash said under her breath.

"It's true," Rowan growled back. "We have no need of them in this operation."

Adam turned, "Do you feel that way about any humans, or just these two given their past machinations."

"Does it matter?" Rowan asked.

"Yes," Adam walked past the pair of them. "I once thought the same as you. I only worked with humans who I felt could guarantee us leverage, and even then I kept them at a distance and remained suspicious. The others I thought were either in our way or only needed an excuse to get in our way."

"And those people betrayed you, betrayed us," Rowan said. "Why would you trust any of them after that?"

"He has his reasons," Ash said. "Just leave it alone."

"No," Adam said. "He wants to know," he smiled a bit, "and he has a right to know, as do you. It would do me no good to keep something like this secret from my two second in commands. If you must know," he turned back to them, "it was a human who alerted me to the truth behind Cinder's schemes. It was a human that helped me rid us of her."

"Yet Cinder herself was also a human," Rowan pointed out.

"And it was a faunus that captured a member of Ash's reconnaissance group," Adam pointed out. "Like I said, I once thought as you do, but I had a... revelation that last day in the Forever Fall. It matters not who or what the person that stands with or against us is. It only matters that they do stand with or against us. You cannot discriminate against a group you wish to try and make yourself equal with. Doing so will only ruin your cause and put you on par with the lowest dregs of humanity that make our fight necessary."

* * *

"You should try to get as much sleep as you can, but you might only be able to sleep for short periods at first," Amber said as Weiss put on her jacket.

"And what about the headache?" Weiss asked, resisting the urge to sit down and just rub the back of her head.

"It will go away in about as long as it'll take you to return to a normal sleep schedule," Amber said, exiting the room. Weiss took a deep breath as she heard the door open again. Turning around, she saw Winter standing there.

"Weiss," the younger Schnee said, looking overjoyed. Weiss didn't say anything in return. Instead, she walked over to her sister and hugged her as tightly as she could. "Weiss," Winter said again as she returned the hug, tears quickly beginning to run down her cheeks, "I'm so happy you're okay."

Weiss just nodded for a moment as she held her sister close. "I love you."

"I love you too," Winter said, pulling away from Weiss. "Now, come on, let's go home." Weiss nodded as she followed, feeling too weak to talk and walk at the same time.

"Amber said Ruby was out for a month," Weiss said weakly as they began driving, the black night sky lit by the numerous artificial lights of the city.

"She was," Winter confirmed.

"Did you spend that entire time in the apartment alone?"

Winter shook her head, "No. I spent only a few hours there after I found out what happened. I called Scarlett and stayed with her instead. At least until Ruby woke up."

Weiss nodded, and began rubbing the back of her head, trying unsuccessfully to ease the pain. "How have you and the guys been?"

"Staying with Scarlett, I've been alright. Sun, Sage, and them have been going around the city for… well."

"Well what?" Weiss looked at her.

Winter sighed, "I don't know, they won't tell me. They won't tell Ruby either, they said they want her to get healthy again first. Whatever it is, it seems unpleasant to say the least."

Weiss nodded weakly before lapsing into silence for a moment. "I'm so tired I can't believe I've been up for only ten minutes."

"We have time until we get home, you can try and sleep here if you want," Winter suggested, prompting Weiss to let out a weak giggle. "What is it?"

"It's… nothing," Weiss shook her head. "It's something from one of the illusions I was trapped in."

Winter nodded, "Well, when we get home, I actually have to head back. Polendina wants to discuss one last thing before I start there in two weeks."

Weiss covered her face with her hands, "That's right, you're so close to eighteen now."

"Hard to believe sometimes," Winter smiled slightly.

"So what does he want to discuss?"

Winter shrugged, "He said a few things about my employment. I figured it was something about the hours I'd be working. He also said I'd be getting my uniform."

"That'll be interesting to see," Weiss said.

"It certainly will," Winter said, as the two of them lapsed back into silence that persisted until they said goodbye as Weiss was dropped off. Returning to the military headquarters, she was quickly allowed up, and when the doors opened, a familiar face was standing at the door.

"Welcome back, Schnee," the woman said.

"I'm sorry," Winter said. "I recognize you, but I don't remember your name."

The woman nodded, "Dasos Prasinos. Working here, it'll be Prasinos, but everyone just calls me Prasi." Winter nodded as Prasi turned around. "Polendina asked me to bring you to his office so you don't wander anywhere you shouldn't since you don't start working here for two weeks."

"That's fine," Winter said, following her as they set off. "I'm seeing more than most people can just being here after all."

Prasi laughed, "That's very true. Now, let's get-" the lights cut off. Almost immediately, weaker lights turned on in several of the side rooms, and light red lights filled the halls. "Really?"

"Did the building just lose power?" Winter asked in surprise as she looked around.

"No, we lost power," Prasi said, continuing to walk.

"What do you mean?"

"We use so much power we're set on a different power supply system than the rest of the building so if we blow something, it doesn't affect the rest of the building."

"Does this happen often?" Winter looked around as several other workers walked into the hallway and started walking with them.

"Not overly," Prasi said as they stopped in a large central room, several people gathered around all over.

"Is this an emergency meeting?" Winter asked, growing anxious from being unsure if she should be there.

"No," Prasi answered as she started rolling up the sleeves of her lab coat. "It's one of the more interesting things you get used to working here."

"What-"

"Alright, who blew the system this time!?" Albero yelled out as he walked into the room, his coat left behind, and his sleeves already rolled up.

"Sorry, sir," one of the men on the opposite side of the room. "One of the new circuits freaked out."

"Is it disconnected?" Albero asked, cutting him off. The man stopped and nodded. Albero took a deep breath, and nodded. "Leave it that way until I can come and see it myself, and when we're done, meet me in my office," his voice was much calmer and warmer.

"Yes, sir," the man said, calming down a bit.

"Alright," Albero reached over to his robotic right arm and moved a part of the covering open, and hit something on the inside. The arm immediately fell to the side, flopping uselessly. "Let's just get this over with."

"Sir," the others acknowledged, before shuffling around the room, placing their arms on various parts of the wall. Winter just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as all the worker's Auras glowed around their arms, bathing the room in a rainbow of color. Albero's, Prasi's, and the man who been responsible for the outage all glowed green, while the others had Aura colors ranging from a deep purple, to bright pink, to a blinding white, to the void of black. All the while, the crackle of electricity grew until the lights turned on.

"Alright," Albero said as the pulled away from the walls. "Get back to work." The various workers all piled out of the room until only Winter, Albero, and Prasi remained.

"What was that?" Winter asked as Albero pressed the inside of his arm again, causing his arm to turn back on.

"Us jumpstarting the secondary generator until the main one can be repaired," Prasi answered as Albero moved his arm around, its movements becoming more and more fluid as he did. "The walls in this room are built to carry current down to it so we can do it ourselves."

"I would recommend getting used to that," Abero added. "Happens around every month and a half on average." Winter nodded, looking at his arm's movement, which was mostly back to normal. "And to answer your other question, this arm takes so much electricity I have to choose between either powering it or basically anything else. It uses up pretty much everything I generate, so I disable it whenever we do that so I don't damage it from sudden power fluctuations."

"Okay," Winter said, looking around as Albero dismissed Prasi. "How do you have that many people working here who can all generate electricity?"

Albero smiled a bit, "Follow me, and I'll answer it on the way to my office." Winter nodded, and they set off through a side hallway. "To answer your question, most of the people who work here are very passionate about what they do. Apparently the personality types that lead to an interest in robotics also can lead to electricity generation." Winter nodded as they walked into the office, the man from earlier waiting in one of the chairs in front of Albero's desk.

"Lehti," Albero said. The man stood and turned, "meet the newest member of your team."

"Winter Schnee," Lehti said, extending his hand. "So sorry I wasn't able to make it the last time you came in."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Winter said as she shook his hand. Sitting behind his desk, Albero looked at Lehti and waved him out before motioning for Winter to sit.

"Now, let's get started," Albero indicated the small vacuum sealed package on his desk. "Your uniform came in." Winter nodded, but didn't say anything. "So long as there's not a drastic change, you can customize it. Just don't change the color palate or put anything on it that would get in the way of your coat in the lab." Winter nodded again. "Now, let's get to the fun part of the two week notice," Albero smiled. "How much combat experience do you have?"

"I'm sorry?" Winter asked in surprise.

"How much combat experience. I can't imagine you've much actual combat experience, but maybe some training? Although none at all is perfectly fine as well, Lehti didn't have any when he started here."

"Oh," Winter nodded. "Yes, I've been trained in the use of my Semblance, and I have a small amount of fencing experience."

Albero nodded. "Yes, the Schnee family Semblance. I've heard much about the powers of that Semblance. Unusual even among hereditary Semblances for the power and diversity of the various glyphs. There are four main aspects if I'm not mistaken." Winter nodded in confirmation. "I expect you've at least mastered Dust Manipulation."

"Yes, sir. And Force Manipulation."

"Which leaves Time Dilation and Summoning," Albero said. "How do you fall short on Time Dilation?"

"I've yet to consistently get it to a point at which I can exclusively speed something up or slow it down."

"So both can happen at once?" Albero asked, clearly interested.

Winter nodded, "Yes, sir. When it's not mastered, the opposite effect can occur after the dilation is meant to end."

Albero nodded, "And with your lack of combat experience, I suspect you have no ability to Summon."

"I can Summon," Winter said simply.

"You can?" Albero asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, sir. When my sister and I were young, our father would hire Huntsmen to capture a few young, weak Grimm. After we were experienced enough with Dust Manipulation, he'd have us try and slay them within their cages. We'd often fail and the Grimm would just die off in their cages, but eventually we managed to kill a few while we were still young."

"That is… morbid," Albero said, clearly unsettled by it.

"It… certainly wasn't pleasant," Winter said, looking down for a moment. "But because of it, I am able to Summon, at least somewhat."

"So, what is the problem with your Summoning if you are capable of it?" Albero asked. "Clearly there's more to it than just calling them."

Winter nodded, "My Summons are very frail." As she spoke, the door behind her opened.

"Father, are you, oh, Weiss is that you?" Penny asked as she entered the room, her voice growing excited. When Winter looked back, Penny looked down, feeling extremely disappointed. "Oh, sorry."

"Penny, this is Winter, Weiss' sister."

"Oh!" Penny perked up a bit. "Is Weiss okay, I heard she was hurt recently."

"She's doing fine," Winter said. "She just needs rest."

"Yes," Albero said, his professional tone having disappeared the moment Penny had entered the room. "Winter will be working here in a few weeks."

"Really?" Penny asked, sounding excited.

"I will," Winter confirmed.

"We were just finishing up the last round of questions before she starts working here," Albero said.

"Oh, has he asked you about your Semblance yet?" Penny asked.

"We were just talking about that," Albero said, glancing over at Winter for a moment before returning his gaze to Penny. "Would you like to see a Summon?"

"Sir?" Winter looked quickly back at him as Penny cocked her head to the side.

"For Penny?" Albero asked, looking at his soon to be employee. Looking back at Penny, Winter nodded, and generated a spinning glyph over her hand. After a moment, a small white bird flew out of the glyph and began flying around the room. "Is that a Nevermore?"

"It is," Winter confirmed as she held out her right hand. The eidolon landed on her fingers and folded up its wings.

"How long will it last?" Albero asked.

"It varies," Winter answered. "If I don't keep it up, it will fade after about a minute, but if I want, I can keep it summoned for as long as I'm still conscious. Although that takes a bit of energy." Albero smiled as his eyes shifted back to Penny. Following his gaze, Winter saw her staring at the Nevermore in awe as it faded.

"I think that should be everything," Albero said, standing up. "Penny, would you escort Winter back to the elevator?" Penny nodded and walked out the door. Picking up the package her uniform was in, Winter followed her out.

"If you're working here, will I be able to see Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and Blake more?" Penny asked excitedly as they walked through the hallways back to the elevators.

"I don't know," Winter admitted. "But if you can't, I'll relay information back and forth between you."

"Really!?" Penny asked, overjoyed.

"Absolutely," Winter said, smiling at Penny's excitement as they stopped at the elevator.

"Thank you," Penny said, giving Winter a crushing hug for a moment. When the elevator doors closed behind her, Winter rubbed her arms a bit, and by the time she got back to her car, she felt a little sore from the hug.

As she walked back to the apartment after parking, her new uniform held under her right arm, she saw Weiss standing on the balcony of their apartment, looking out over the street. Picking up speed, Winter walked faster to get back to the apartment as quickly as she could, quickly scanned her way back up the elevator, and opened the door. Letting the door close behind her, she set her uniform on the couch, and walked out onto the balcony. "You're still up?"

Weiss shook her head as Winter walked up next to her. "I fell asleep for a bit but I woke up in a panic soon afterwards. Repeat a few times, and here I am."

Winter nodded, "Ruby was the same way. She even screamed at least twice. Nearly scared me to death, it was horrible."

"It carried downstairs?" Weiss asked, her voice never gaining any inflection in her exhaustion.

"No," Winter shook her head. "I actually spent the last week sleeping in your bed. I figured, or hoped, that you wouldn't mind."

Weiss smiled a bit and nodded, "It's fine, but we really do need to actually get you a bed."

"Yes, you do," Winter said, prompting both of them to laugh a bit.

"So, did you get your uniform?" Weiss asked.

"I did," Winter confirmed, shifting her gaze from her sister to the lit up street below them.

"Would you mind putting it on?" Weiss asked. "I'm curious to see what you actually look like in it."

"That shouldn't be a problem, just give me a few minutes," Winter said, leaving the balcony. When Weiss walked inside several minutes later, Winter was nowhere to be seen. Walking over to the chair opposite the stairs, she sat down and waited. A few minutes later, Weiss looked up as she heard the sound of heels striking the stairs.

"It's been awhile since I've actually seen a military scientist's uniform, but you look good in it," Weiss said.

"Thanks," Winter said, "It's somehow more formal and complicated than some of the outfits the company requires for certain events."

Weiss laughed a bit as she looked her sister up and down. "Are you allowed to customize that at all? I'd figure no."

"I can actually," Winter answered, taking a seat. "I can't go crazy with it, but I can add my own touch to it." Weiss nodded, cocking her head a bit. "What is it?"

"It's just," Weiss shook her head a bit, looking amused, "It's incredibly stupid, but in one of the illusions I had. We were around nine or ten years older than we are now, and you were in one of those uniforms, but with a few additions to it."

"Additions? What would you add to this?" Winter asked, looking down at what she was wearing.

"It was mostly small things like a red Dust clip, and a small piece hanging down in the back, plus a few other things," Weiss shrugged. "It looked good, but you were also, like I said, older. But I think it might not be a bad look on you now."

"This will be interesting to see," Winter said, shaking her head a bit.

"Hey, I'm serious," Weiss defended, before sighing a bit. "You want to know how you looked in my illusion?"

Winter raised her head in surprise. "That's sudden, but you definitely brought it up for a reason. Do you mean specifically?"

"No," Weiss shook her head. "I mean how you aged."

"Oh," Winter said in surprised. "How did I look?"

"You looked just like mom," Weiss smiled sadly. "I mean you look a lot like her now, but you looked pretty much exactly like her bar eye and hair color."

Winter's mouth hung open for a moment before she smiled sadly as well. "Like mom…" Weiss nodded. "I… More and more recently, when I think of mom, it's not her face that comes to me, it's-"

"Scarlett," Weiss said alongside her sister, prompting Winter to nod. "I know the feeling. Consistently, no matter what the illusion was about or I was doing, whenever I, or we, met with 'mom' in my illusion, it was Scarlett. The only time I saw our actual mom was in a memory."

"That makes me feel better," Winter said after a moment. "I felt bad that I was subconsciously replacing mom in my head."

Weiss smiled sadly, "You were so young when she left."

"We both were," Winter pointed out.

"True, but there's a large difference between ten and six," Weiss said. "Especially in how much we remember."

Winter nodded slowly, "The only clear memory I have left of her is of our last trip to Farraige."

Weiss smiled, "At least it's a good one." Winter nodded, smiling nostalgically alongside her.

* * *

Amber shook her head, looking to the side, frowning the entire time.

"You called about Blake for a reason," Qrow said, his face on the screen in the conference room. When Amber didn't say anything, Qrow sighed. "You learned something going through her head, what is it?"

"If I had to guess, you already know," Amber sighed, taking a seat. "I learned about it the first time I tried breaking her out, but I kept quiet. Now that she's up," Amber shook her head again. "They need to know."

"You're talking about her past in the White Fang," Qrow said matter-of-factly.

"I am," Amber confirmed. "Even if she's out of it, and has been for years, this isn't small."

"No, it's not," Qrow agreed. "But from what you went through, you should know even more than I do. So, how does she feel about the White Fang?"

"She believes in her heart what they originally stood for, but she also hates the group for perverting those same beliefs she was raised on."

"What about Adam?"

Amber sighed. "He trained her, taught her how to fight, cared for her more than anyone else for a long time, but she fears him as well because of his abuse towards her, and how he hurt Yang, as well as aligning the White Fang with Cinder Fall, and abandoning everything the group originally stood for once and for all. And she also genuinely believes that she let him die on that train."

"And the others?"

"They know, as do the members of Team JNPR." Amber said sighing. "They have for years now. I've seen as much going through the others' illusions. They trust her with their lives, and Yang..." Amber trailed off, smiling a bit as she did.

"What about Yang?" Qrow said, instantly growing more attentive at the mention of his niece's name.

"It's… well it's not unimportant," Amber admitted. "I'm just reminded of two of my old teammates."

Qrow narrowed his eyes, but shrugged after a moment. "So, do you think Blake is a threat to stopping the White Fang?"

Amber shook her head, "No, I think, if anything, she'll be a threat to the White Fang once she learns they're back. Especially once she learns Adam's still alive."

"Then James doesn't need to know," Qrow said, taking a drink from a mug. "He'd only get paranoid."

"You're right." Amber shook her head, "I don't like it, but you're right."

* * *

"Yang…" Blake said, resting her hand on the unconscious blonde's cheek.

"That certainly looks like the touch of a friend," Weiss said sarcastically from behind her. Blake smiled sadly as she looked down at Yang. "How are you doing?"

"Tired, and my head hurts," Blake said simply.

"I feel the exact same way," Weiss said. "I was only broken out two days ago." She sighed, "Ruby's been out for a little over a week now, and she still has some trouble sleeping." Blake nodded slowly. "You're definitely looking at her differently. Something happen in the illusion?"

Blake nodded, "That and going through everything getting out. It gave… perspective. I know it sounds dumb. It was just an illusion."

"It's not dumb," Weiss said, walking up next to her. "I saw a new perspective on how I feel about a number of people in mine. In at least three of them, Ruby was my sister. Sometimes instead of Winter, sometimes alongside her."

Blake smiled a bit, "That definitely makes me feel better."

"So, what happened between you and Yang?"

_We were dating,_ Blake thought, the words refusing to come out of her mouth.

"Blake?" Weiss asked, as the words refused to come. "You told me about the kiss, so what happened?"

Blake took a deep breath. "We were dating," she finally said, forcing the words out. "Unless I was experiencing a memory, we were dating," she took another breath, the words flowing out of her mouth easily now that she'd started saying it. "Sometimes it was even in a memory and she just replaced Sun."

Weiss nodded, "Did you experience the same set of memories over and over again?"

"You mean involving my Aura? Yes," she rubbed the back of her head. "I guess it was every time Amber reset the illusion, I'd go through the same four memories. I take it you did too?"

Weiss nodded, "The same three, Ruby as well. Now, come on, let's just get home. We can come back and visit Yang again after you've rested a bit." Blake nodded, and they walked out of the room to where Winter was waiting.

"So, where's Ruby?" Blake asked, looking around.

"Asleep," Weiss answered. "It's two in the morning. She's finally returned to a normal schedule, for the most part. Like I said, still some issues." Blake nodded.

* * *

"So they're all awake now," Blue Mask said, standing on the roof opposite Team RWBY's and Winter's apartment.

"All four," Brown Mask confirmed.

"Did they pass?" Blue Mask looked at him to see him nod. "Even if they had help?"

"They couldn't have passed without help," he said, walking forward.

"I still don't like this."

"But?"

Blue Mask sighed, "But, I don't have anything better." Brown Mask nodded as four masses of darkness swirled around them, out of which the other four stepped.

"How are things progressing?" Brown Mask turned to them.

"Very well," Orange Mask said, her voice sounding unnaturally happy.

"You might want to get more specific than that," Red Mask scoffed.

"Oh haha," Orange Mask flicked the side of his head. "The White Fang's two little scouts have successfully begun working at the SDC," she said, sounding annoyed as she turned back towards Brown Mask. "Also with the SDC, things are running smoothly while Eis searches for a new person to take over once he's gone, but the only person he really has is his secretary."

"I've always heard secretaries had more power than people think, but that's a little ridiculous," Green Mask laughed. "Remind me never to get one."

"And how are things going for you, huh?" Orange Masked said.

"Research progresses, I still have no idea what runs through the heads of my higher ups. Winter Schnee is set to join us in about two weeks, and we had a power outage."

"You had a power outage?" Red Mask asked, looking at him quickly.

Green Mask shrugged, "They happen all the time."

"And what of the White Fang?" Brown Mask asked before they could continue.

Red Mask grunted a bit, "Haven't lost anyone since the surprise a few weeks back, but still in hiding. For now at least, things are quickly changing in our favor since, as it's been pointed out, Mercury and Emerald are now employed and can start feeding the Fang information."

"It's probably going to be so annoying for you to hear info from them that I can already get you _so_ much easier," Orange Mask teased.

"Quiet," Brown Mask said, walking between the five of them. "We have a plan, and we are to follow it, understood?"

"Yes sir," Black Mask said first, before the others nodded along.

"Good," Brown Mask said as Blue Mask vanished into a flash of light. "Now stop your bickering and get back to it." With that, he vanished as well.

"What a dick," Orange Mask said, prompting Red Mask to laugh as the two of them departed as well. Black Mask walked to the edge of the building and looked across the street at the top floor where Team RWBY were sleeping.

"You were the first to respond with a yes," Green Mask said, walking up next to her.

"What's your point?" Black Mask asked, her gaze never leaving the building.

Green Mask looked at her, "My point is that what you're thinking might jeopardize said plan."

"And how do you know what I'm thinking?" she asked.

"When you know the connections, it's not that hard," Green Mask pointed out. "I can't figure out what my higher ups know because I don't know how things are connected, or rather, I don't know how they think they are. But you," he laughed a bit, "I know exactly how all of the points concerning you are connected, and have for a long time now. All these years, you've yet to go astray from what I've guessed."

"You're going somewhere with this," she said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"If you get in the way of the boss' plans," his voice was cold, "I won't hesitate to kill you."

"You'd do that much for him?"

Green Mask laughed again. "Like I said, when you know the connections, it's easy. But when things are missing, it gets a lot harder."

Black Mask turned towards him, glaring through her mask, "That doesn't answer my question."

Green Mask shrugged, as he turned around and began walking away. "True. Just know this, I won't stop you. I won't even prevent you from asking questions should you have any, even for the boss and his plan."

"That's a sudden change from threatening to kill me," Black Mask pointed out.

"That's because I don't think you'll endanger it," Green Mask answered as he began to glow before vanishing. Taking one last look at the apartment across the street, Black Mask vanished as well.

End of Section 3: The Test

End of Arc I

**A/N2: Well, I was wrong about what the latest WoR would be about, but I guess it makes sense that they'd want to keep info on the Maidens vague at best, at least for now. As for the CCT, okay. I can use that. The towers I've had people visiting within the main cities can easily be secondary towers for communication instead of full CCTs in their own right even if they're referred to as such in story. And I am glad they came up with an explanation as to how Remnant doesn't have satellites.**

**A/N3: So, until this point, I've been including as many canon ideas/revelations as I can. I'm still going to be doing that, but from this point forward, we begin moving into territory that will make this more difficult. I will still incorporate things that I can, but it will certainly be less often than before.**

**A/N4: ****It's always incredible being able to write a scene that I've been waiting to do for a long time, especially when said scene deals with some important info. This time, there are two of them. The first scene is Beige talking with the Councilman, and talking about how Crystal died, which I've been waiting for since Chapter 4. The second is Junior's interrogation. I've been waiting to get to that one ever since he mentioned having info for Yang back in Chapter 6. **

**A/N5: ****Actually being able to write a scene with all six of our masked antagonists interacting. I've been waiting to do that, and I'm beyond happy I finally got to a point where I can could finally do it. **

**A/N6: Also, yay, my first chapter with both Scarlet(t)s playing major roles.**

**A/N7: And, yes, I had to get that Kingdom Hearts reference in the chapter title, it was too easy to pass up. Also the second chapter title I've done based on that phrase.**

**A/N8: Well, next time, we start the second Arc. Until then, I hope everyone who's read this far has enjoyed it. I said this back in the first chapter's notes, but I'll say it again: Reviews are appreciated, especially going forward. If you stick with it this far, I'd love to see what you have to say.**


	16. Opposing Views

**A/N1: It's the fic's birthday (in my timezone at least), and it's early on Monday, so it's my normal upload time, so that means it's Arc 2 time! As always, I'm going to discuss everything else at the end of the chapter. And I have A LOT to talk about this time, because, well it should be obvious if you've been keeping up with the show. Beyond that, I'm going to say, I'm anxious, not because of the show (well, I'm anxious about that too, but that should be rather obvious), but because this chapter explains a concept I made up for the story that was introduced a while ago, and it's not exactly a small thing.**

**A/N2-P: With Volume 3 done and out of the way, I've gone through and updated the fic with a number of things, details on what down below, and this does include what happened to Yang in Episode 11.**

Winter shifted around in her bed, wishing to remain in it for the entire day.

"Either you're still asleep," Weiss' voice came from the side of the bed, causing Winter to jump a bit and roll over, "or you're really enjoying having a bed again." Her sister sounded and looked extremely amused as she began walking around the back of the bed.

"Can you blame me?" Winter asked, rolling over again and closing her eyes. "I've been sleeping on a couch for most of the past two months. Of course I'm going to want to savor my new bed."

"While that's understandable, keep in mind your bed is also our couch. So, unless you want people sitting on it while you're using it, you might want to get out of it." Winter grumbled as she climbed out of the bed so the two of them could fold it back up. "Now," Weiss sat down on the newly folded up couch, as the table was moved into position. "I have something I need to get at Ao Plaza. I was wondering if you'd want to join me."

Winter yawned a bit, but nodded in response. "Just let me change and eat first."

"I haven't eaten yet either," Weiss shrugged. "I figured we could stop somewhere at or near the plaza." Winter nodded and made her way upstairs. The hallway's doors were all open bar Yang's. Walking into Weiss' room, Winter closed the door behind her, and quickly changed. When she walked back out of the room, Yang's door was open, but the bathroom door was closed with the shower running.

"I'm ready," Winter yawned as she walked back down the stairs.

"Then let's go," Weiss said, standing up, and placing her scroll in one of her pockets. The two of them walked out of the room in a silence that continued into the elevator. As the elevator descended, Winter rubbed her tired eyes as she gradually woke up while Weiss seemed to fidget around, and kept her left hand near her pocket. Neither of them said a word until they stopped for breakfast. "How are you doing?" Winter asked after they finished ordering. "It's been just under two weeks since you woke up."

Weiss nodded slowly. "I still have moments where I just feel incredibly tired, but… for the most part I'm okay. I've stopped questioning what should and shouldn't be happening."

"You look better than Ruby did after two weeks," Winter pointed out. "You and Blake both do."

"Yes, well, I had the fortune of not being worried about what was going to happen to my friends after a week," Weiss smiled warmly, "and never having to worry about my sister." A small smile crossed Winter's face as they were brought their drinks. "So, how are you doing? You start at the military tomorrow, right?"

Winter nodded slowly. "I do. Now that I'm no longer worrying about _my_ sister," Weiss chuckled a bit, "I'm… nervous."

"I can't blame you. I was nearly a wreck when I was preparing for Beacon."

"Really?" Winter asked in surprise. "You always seemed composed when talking about it."

"I wasn't going to show my nerves around father, and," Weiss paused for a moment, "we weren't exactly on the best terms at the time."

Winter sighed and nodded, bowing her head slightly, "That's true."

"But, like I was saying, it's perfectly fine to be nervous. Especially with your first job being what it is."

"It's certainly big," Winter admitted, "but it's not quite on the same level as going to Beacon, plus you were a year younger than I am."

"While I was younger, Beacon is a school at the end of the day, so I was a student, not a Huntress or researcher."

Winter nodded as she took a sip from her water. "What do you need to pick up anyway?"

"A few small things," Weiss shrugged. "Nothing major in the slightest." Winter nodded, as her sister checked her scroll for a moment.

"Did you receive a message?" Winter asked as Weiss put the device away.

"No," Weiss sighed. "Call me paranoid, but I'm checking the time. I heard years ago that if you look at the time quickly in succession, and it's dramatically different, it's a sign that you're dreaming."

"Oh," Winter said in surprise before looking down at the table. "I guess I can't really blame you for that."

Weiss nodded slightly, "Let's talk about something more pleasant."

Winter smiled, "I like that idea."

Close to half an hour later, the two of them were walking back towards their apartment. As they got closer, Winter noticed someone standing up on their balcony.

"Is that Yang?" Winter asked as she made out a large amount of yellow.

"It certainly looks like her," Weiss answered as the woman on their balcony walked back into the apartment. Making their way upstairs, Winter heard a small amount of commotion inside, and the sound of Ruby's voice. The young Huntress sounded excited about something.

"What's going on?" Winter asked, looking at her sister. In response, Weiss just opened the door, and they stepped inside. Ruby, Blake, and Yang were sitting around, a small cake and a few packages set on the table.

"What is-" Winter asked in surprise as she stepped forward. A moment later, her mind processed what was happening, and she spun around to look at Weiss. "You _were_ expecting messages."

"Happy birthday," Weiss said, smiling broadly. Winter just walked over and hugged her sister tightly. "That almost felt like one of Yang's hugs," Weiss said as they broke apart.

"I wasn't expecting this," Winter said, turning back to the other three women. "How long were you planning this?"

"A few days," Ruby admitted. "Yang just suggested it, and we went with it."

"This is wonderful," Winter said, unable to stop smiling as she glanced back at Weiss. You younger Schnee's expression fell when she saw Weiss glancing at her scroll again. "Come on," Winter grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards the rest of the room. "Even if it's not real, let's enjoy it." Weiss smiled, and nodded along.

"The guys were supposed to be here," Yang said as the Schnee sisters sat down, "but they said they wouldn't be able to show up until much later, and would message Ruby when they were on their way."

"Whatever it is that they're looking into, they had better tell us soon," Blake said as she handed Winter her gift.

* * *

"Ah, Beige," Seryy said, walking up to the other man and extending his hand. "It's wonderful having you here."

Beige smiled, shaking the proffered hand. "Of course I came. I can't miss the last really big rally before elections. And unless I'm mistaken, I need to be here for the set up if I'm to speak, is that right?"

"Right it is," Seryy confirmed, turning around to face the buildings running along the central ring. "Shall we head in?"

"Let's," Beige answered. The two of them immediately set off down the wide sidewalk, heading northeast until they came across a large ornate gateway that was wide open, a large N marked over it. "It's been years since I last came to the park."

"I remember when it was first built following all the entertainment companies moving to Ao Plaza," Seryy said as they made their way down the pathway between countless snow covered trees.

"I do too, once the first part of it opened, people flocked to it all the time. Now it's mostly tourists, nature enthusiasts, businessmen who grew up in more nature filled areas, or people coming for something specific within it instead of just enjoying the park itself."

"It's kind of a shame it goes to waste now, it's a beautiful park."

"That it is," Beige agreed, taking in a deep breath, letting the scent of nature flood his nostrils. "Sil's been wanting to come back here lately."

"And yet she didn't come when offered the chance?" Seryy asked, sounding amused.

Beige laughed, "No, unfortunately she had to work."

Seryy nodded. "Speaking of work, how has your own been coming along lately?"

Beige shrugged, "It comes and goes. Mostly it's from people who can't stand Eis anymore, but that's fine by me. It's a lot more fun than working for the man himself."

"Even if it is less money," Seryy pointed out.

"Oh, a lot less. Very few positions pay quite as well as working close with Eis, but very few jobs are also as soul crushing. Tirade after tirade, at least if something sets him off. He's actually surprisingly civil most of the time. Even so, I have no idea how Scarlett puts up with him all the time."

"Who?"

"His secretary. I had more than enough time to get to know her fairly well. Nice woman, well driven, some moral issues I don't really agree with."

"That sounds ominous," Seryy laughed.

"She willingly works for Eis," Beige laughed as well. "Personally, every day. I only started there because I needed the money after Crystal died and I was burned. I only stayed because I only directly worked with him occasionally, and it helped us save up a nice amount of money."

"How is your burn? It just looks like a patch of discolored skin anymore."

"Some days I miss having sensation there, but it's otherwise just something I've learned to deal with."

"And what about Serebro?"

"You know she hates that name," Beige said, sounding amused.

"Yes, but I've known her before she changed it," Seryy pointed out.

"Considering she changed it when we got married, that doesn't mean much. The only people she lets use it are her parents. Even I get an earful for using it."

Seryy laughed, "That's true. Regardless, how is she doing?"

"She's doing very well," Beige said, smiling in amusement. "Work's keeping her busy, obviously, but she enjoys it."

"That sounds about right. She's been doing the same thing since she finished school."

Beige shrugged. "What can I say, she likes helping people. And taking care of kids is just a part of it. Although with where we live, the other workers love having her there since she's one of the few faunus in the area, and they want the kids to get experience with at least one."

"Speaking of faunus," Seryy said as they entered a clearing in the park. "Beige, this is Sun Wukong." The younger blonde man turned towards the two new arrivals in the clearing. "Sun, this is Beige Brenin."

"You're that politician who ran for the Grand Council," Sun said as they shook hands.

"Please don't call me that again," Beige said. "I'm just someone who played his part."

"I'm sorry?" Sun asked in confusion. Beige just smiled in response.

"Sun here is one of four Huntsmen that have been watching over my events for the last few weeks," Seryy explained.

"Ah yes, after the run in with the group of women from the White Fang," Beige said. "I suppose we wouldn't want them showing back up, things could get messy."

"Very," Sun conceded. "Unfortunately, we've yet to run into any of them since."

"That's unfortunate?" Beige asked, trying not to laugh.

"Well, we know they're in the city somewhere, so we'd like to catch them," Sun shrugged. "Anyway, you know Weiss and Ruby don't you?"

"Weiss and Ruby?" Seryy asked, looking at Beige.

"Weiss and Ruby…" Beige said to no one in particular at the same time.

"As in Weiss Schnee?" Seryy asked.

"Do you mean Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose?" Beige asked Sun at the same time.

"I do," Sun confirmed. "They're friends of mine and my team."

"And I do," Beige said. "One of the few benefits of working closely with Eis as much as I did was that I saw Weiss and her sister grow up and _not_ adopt his opinions on, well, most things. Will they be helping out with this event too?"

"How big is this event?" Sun asked. "I was just told to head to that big castle like building-"

"Farraige," Seryy corrected.

"Yeah, that, and then either stay there, or head back a bit if I wanted to meet up," Sun finished. "What is that place anyway?"

"We're heading back there now," Seryy said, beginning to walk away, the other two following him. "And to answer your question, it's an old theater, and one of the places in the city that can't be torn down by law other than the government buildings at Vetro Plaza. Owned by the Schnee family for generations, it's huge, and where all the large political parties hold their last rallies before elections. Tomorrow all the candidates going up for election in Seryy's party are going up on stage."

"And a few guest speakers," Seryy added.

"And a few guest speakers," Beige echoed.

"A Schnee owned building holding a rally that includes a faunus candidate," Sun said, sounding amused. "Something about that sounds contradictory."

Seryy laughed, "Schnee may own Farraige, but he doesn't run it, not in practice anyway. Due to its landmark status, if he refuses to take care of it, the government will instead. So either he deals with some faunus, or he loses out on a source of revenue."

"Not like the SDC gives him plenty," Beige said deadpan. "Personally, I thought they went past the point of being taken seriously when they started making toothpaste. Anyway, you didn't answer my question, will the others be helping out as well?"

"Depends on how large the event is," Sun shrugged as they walked out into another clearing, this one far larger than the previous one, and was occupied by an immense castle like structure. Pointed spires and towers extended above the main building, with large stained glass windows embedded throughout. A large Schnee family emblem was prominently displayed on the front of the building in the form of one of the large stained glass windows. The building's rather modest looking front doors were set in an archway that extended above them to a height easily quadruple their size. In front of the building was an immense fountain, and to its left side was a large pond that people were gathered around. "My team's inside. How much of the theater do you think you'll be using?"

"Only one of the stages," Seryy answered as they walked around the fountain.

"Then I think the four of us should be fine," Sun said, as they made their way around the fountain.

"I wouldn't say that until you've seen the auditorium you'll be patrolling," Beige said. "Spoiler alert, it's the largest they've got."

"How large can it possibly be?" Sun asked as they stepped inside. The building's lobby was immense. The vaulted ceiling above them was easily four stories above them, and every inch of the lobby was decorated in a show of ancient wealth. Marble statues depicting warriors and Grimm were placed periodically throughout, one of which Sun recognized as being a smaller version of the Huntsmen statue that he'd first seen Blake remove her bow in front of. Opposite the entrance was a large stairway leading up to a second floor. The second floor, which consisted entirely of walkways set against the walls of the room, provided entrance into the various auditoriums. Additionally, a second flight of stairs extended beyond the second floor, up to a third floor near the ceiling, which provided access to higher floored seatings for the larger rooms, which were only set opposite the entrance. Additional walkways extended across the top as well, although Sun was unable to see what they lead to. "Alright, I'll admit I left my team outside when I came to meet you, this is pretty large. Speaking of my team, where are they?"

"They were mostly likely escorted into the chamber we're using," Seryy said.

"This is traditional Atlesian architecture," Beige explained as they began walking towards the stairway. "Well, mostly, the walkways leading to the highest areas aren't, but everything else is. Our ancestors liked things _big_."

"I can see that," Sun said, looking around.

"Very few things are built like this anymore," Seryy added as he and Beige turned to the right of the stairs. "Mostly it's only private buildings emulating the older style for stylistic reasons."

"Also a number of things the government builds," Beige added as well. The three men made their way down a second stairway hidden under the large main one. "The council's and courts' various private deliberating quarters are more modern, at least mostly, but anything with public ceremonial purpose has to be like this." They stopped for a moment as they reached a large ornate doorway at the bottom of the stairs. "Exception being the military, and even they have exceptions to those exceptions. Some of their largest vehicles have older styles internally. Any of the their flagships being prime examples, whether it be for air, land, or sea travel."

"That certainly explains some design choices," Sun said as one of the building's employees opened the door for them, and let them through. Beyond the door was a well lit, stone hallway that branched several times as it extended away from the door. "I'm guessing this leads backstage." Seryy nodded as they set off. "How old is this building?"

"It's nearly as old as this Kingdom," Seryy explained.

"Although its current Schnee influenced form only goes back to around the time of the Faunus Rights Revolution," Beige added.

When they reached end of the hallway, it turned to the right twice, the second turn leading to a small set of stairs, which ended at another door that they were let through without much hassle. Sun figured the large room they entered next was designed to house props and set pieces. Standing to the right side of the room were Sun's teammates, who quickly walked over to the newcomers.

"We were escorted here, and then told to wait," Scarlet said as they met up.

"How many of you have easily concealable weapons?" Beige asked, eyeing the immense sword on Sage's back.

"Out of the four of us, just me," Sun answered. "Although Scarlet can hide his pistol."

"And what of your friends?" Seryy asked.

"Let's see the stage first."

"Alright then," Seryy said, walking to the side of the room, and around a corner in the room's right side, the others following him. Around the corner, they saw the curtains drawn back, allowing them to see the seating. When they stepped out, the four young men had to keep their mouths from falling open. "So, about your friends?" Seryy asked, turning back towards the four Huntsmen, his echoing voice sounding amused.

"Out of them, only one can easily conceal her weapon, the others can't really. Probably not at all in dresses," Sun answered as Neptune scanned the seating.

"Well, that's less than would be nice, but more than I expected," Seryy answered honestly.

"How many were you expecting to be able to hide their weapons?" Scarlet asked.

"None," the politician admitted.

"Neptune?" Sun asked, looking at his friend.

"I'd say two or three up above, the rest down below here," he answered. "Although I'd like to see the seating and view up there before I settle on anything."

"That can be done easily," Beige said, walking to the edge of the stage, and jumping down into the vacant band area in front.

"First we see that, then we tell the girls," Sun sighed.

* * *

"How are you doing?" Blake asked, walking out onto the balcony.

Yang sighed, not looking away from the darkening sky above them, nor moving her bare arms from where they rested on the railing. "I could be better."

"Well," Blake said, setting her hands on the railing as well, "if it's any consolation, you look better than Ruby, Weiss, or I did after a week."

"That… doesn't really help at all."

"Yeah, I didn't really expect it to," Blake admitted. "We all had at least one other person to worry about not waking up, but now that we're all up," she sighed, "we're still worried about what's going to happen next."

"It's maddening," Yang sighed, shaking her head trying to clear it, her thoughts continually straying to what she'd been through in her illusions. Especially the events involving Blake.

Next to her, Blake shifted uncomfortably at a loss for words. _Just spit it out!_ she mentally screamed at herself. _You told Weiss, tell her. Just get it out of the way!_ However, no words came to her mouth.

"Did anything happen in your illusion that stuck with you?" Yang asked, glancing over at her partner.

_Yes, we were dating. _"Just the same four memories repeating over and over," Blake said, her pulse beginning to race. "What about you?"

Yang grimaced, looking down at the street below them. "Same." _No, _Yang sighed out angrily. _Of all the times to discover my shy side, it's with this._

"You okay?" Blake asked, having jumped a bit from Yang's sigh.

"Just a lot bothering me. Everything that's happened, you know?" Yang slumped down a bit. _It's not lying, but… it's not the truth either_, Yang mentally chided herself.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Blake smiled weakly at the blonde woman. "So, wha-" she heard the distinctive sound of the terminal connecting to the lobby from the other room.

"What was that?" Yang turned towards Blake, who had turned around entirely. Following her gaze, Yang saw Ruby walking towards the terminal. "Someone come knocking?"

"I guess," Blake shrugged, walking back into their living room. _You've got to tell her!_

_Come on, Yang, you've been the one to ask people out plenty of times, just do it!_ Yang mentally screamed at herself as she followed Blake inside.

"Who was it?" Weiss, who was sitting on the couch, staring at her scroll, asked as Ruby hung up and turned around.

"Sun," Ruby answered, sounding and looking somewhat worried. "He said it was time we found out just what they've been up to since we went to Valak Mountain."

"About time," Yang said, taking a seat in the nearest chair. Blake stood next to her as Ruby nodded, and walked over to the door, opening it. A few moments later, Sun walked out of the elevator and into the apartment, looking stressed and tired.

"What's happened?" Blake asked as the door closed behind him and Ruby sat in the chair opposite Yang.

Sun took a deep breath. "Where to start?" Pausing for a moment, he looked over at Winter, who was sitting next to her sister. "Happy birthday."

"Um… thank you?" Winter said in surprise to the sudden statement.

"Now," Sun looked around at the four older women in the room, "First things first, Neptune, Sage, Scarlet, and I have been hired to patrol a major political show tomorrow night, and we'd like your help."

"That's what you've been up to for nearly two months?" Ruby asked, sounding disappointed.

"No," the blonde man answered, sighing. "But it's related. The reason we've been hired is because those in charge believe some members of the White Fang may show up."

"There are White Fang in the city?" Winter asked, fear coursing though her voice.

"There are White Fang members in every Kingdom," Blake said simply. "Except possibly Vale at this point, but it's been long enough members may have started to return."

"That's the thing," Sun said somberly. "It's not just a few members, it's the main force."

"When did this happen?" Yang asked in disgust. "And why are we only finding out about this _now_?"

"We only found out the day you went to Valak Mountain," Sun answered, "and," he started talking louder before any of the others could interrupt him, "we have reason to believe they've been showing up a little at a time for a while now. Even before either of us learned of this. But, that's not the main problem." Sun closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again. They were full of sadness as he looked at, and spoke to, Blake. "The main problem is that they have a leader. They're not just acting chaotically."

"There's more to it than that," Blake said after a moment of silence. "There has to be."

Sun nodded. "Adam is alive."

All color and life seemed to drain from Blake at those words. She sat there in silence as Ruby and Weiss could only stare at Sun in stunned disbelief.

Yang, however, looked up at her old partner. "Blake?"

"That can't be!" Blake yelled out, coming back to life at the sound of Yang's voice. "It can't. I saw him die!"

"I know-" Sun began talking.

"I saw his body contort along the ground!"

"I know-"

"My Aura unlocked!" Blake screamed out.

"I know!" Sun yelled back, causing Blake to seemingly collapse in on herself as she fell to the ground, landing on her butt. She just shook her head slowly. "I know that this shouldn't be the case, but it is." Sun said quietly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. Pulling up an image, he handed it to Blake.

Looking at the picture, Blake threw the scroll away from her. "It has to be an imposter!"

"Qrow took that picture," Sun said solemnly, not moving to retrieve his scroll. Ruby made a meek noise from where she sat. Blake just looked up at Yang, her face hopeful.

"If Uncle Qrow took the picture," Yang sighed sadly, "then I'm inclined to believe it's really him." She braced herself for Blake's reaction, but still felt incredibly hurt at the look of total defeat that came over the other woman's face.

"This can't be real," Blake said in denial. "I have to be back in the illusion, I have to be." She looked back up at the others, none of them able to feel anything but pity at Blake's behavior. Blake looked between them, pleading for Amber to appear out of nowhere. When the older Huntress failed to materialize, she just shook her head, and stood up. "Please, please just show up."

"Who?" Weiss asked, already knowing the answer.

"Please…" Blake said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "Amber, please."

"Blake..." Yang stood, prompting the black haired woman to begin backing away from her. "Blake, just sit down." Blake just shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks freely before quickly turning around and running back out onto the balcony. The sliding door slamming shut in front of her, Yang stopped just short of running into it. Opening it back up, she walked out to see Blake sitting down on the ground, her back against the wall with her legs brought up to her chest. Her head was resting against her knees, tears running freely down the sides of her pants.

"Yang, just go," Blake sobbed out as the blonde woman approached.

"You know I'm not going to," Yang said, her voice filled with worry. Blake just shook her head as she tightened her arms around her legs. "Blake…" Yang's voice faltered as she reached towards the other woman.

Blake swatted the hand away when it got close. "I said to leave! Just," her voice quieted down, "leave me alone right now."

"I'm not leaving you when you're like this," Yang said. "Not when you're freaking out like this."

"Yang! Leave me alone or I will break your leg all over again!" Yang froze in place in shock while Blake's face contorted in horror as she realized what she had just said. "I'm sorry," she said weakly, shaking her head back and forth. "That was incredibly wrong. I shouldn't-"

"Let's just get back inside," Yang said softly. Blake didn't move at all, but she did stop talking, and didn't object when Yang grabbed her arm and helped her stand. The two of them made their way across the balcony and inside through the second door into the kitchen. Passing through the small room they sat down in the dining room. The moment Blake sat down, she nearly collapsed into the table, still in tears.

"Is she going to be okay?" Ruby asked in the living room.

"She will be, but I think we should put this to rest for tonight," Weiss suggested.

Sun nodded, looking pained. "I'll be back tomorrow morning," he said, turning to leave.

"Remember your scroll," Weiss said as he neared the door. Stopping, Sun nodded slowly and retrieved the device before exiting the room, letting the door close behind him.

"I'll go check on them," Ruby said, walking towards the balcony.

"What," Winter spoke up as the sliding door closed behind Ruby. "What did she mean when she said her Aura unlocked?"

Weiss opened her mouth for a moment before smiling weakly as Ruby glanced around on the other side of the door before turning to the left and walking out of view. "I suppose just learning about Dust, you wouldn't know."

"I wouldn't know what?"

Weiss sighed. "Aura is a complicated thing, and there are many facets to it. Healing, shielding, and Semblances are all tied to Aura, and they can all be improved upon with training. With the right training, people can even use their Aura for offense. However, it is possible for someone's Aura to permanently strengthen. Well," Weiss cocked her head slightly as she corrected herself, "that's not entirely accurate. It's not strengthening per se. Your overall Aura power is the same, but it's more… efficiently used."

"And this is what Blake meant when she said her Aura unlocked?"

Weiss nodded. "They're traditionally referred to as Aura Locks, and even though that name has fallen out of favor in recent years, referring to your Aura as having unlocked is still common terminology. Anymore, they're referred to as Key Events."

Winter laughed a bit despite the stress of the recent events, "Did Yang suggest the name?"

Weiss paused for a moment before laughing as well. "No, but she's certainly proud of it. Now, back on topic, there are four different Key Events: Life, Trust, Hatred, and Death," she held out her left hand, and extended a finger for each event listed.

"I'm guessing what happened with Adam was Death."

Weiss nodded slowly. "Intentionally taking a course of action, or not taking a course of action in this case, that you believe will result in another person's death, and then them subsequently dying." Weiss paused for a moment before continuing on. "Adam was dangling off the side of a train as it was collapsing. Blake could have saved him, but she chose not to, even though she believed he wouldn't survive the fall." She took a deep breath, "When he didn't, or he shouldn't have, her Aura unlocked. Adam still being alive is, or should be, impossible."

"Why?" Winter asked in confusion. "Couldn't he have been resuscitated?"

Weiss sighed, staring into the distance in the direction of their table, "I wish I could say yes to that, but it's not that simple. Unlocking through the Death event isn't as simple as rendering someone legally dead, or just thinking you killed them." She paused and looked back at her sister, a somber expression on her face. "Your Aura unlocks when the other person's soul leaves their body."

"Wait," Winter started, a chill running down her spine, "but then..."

Weiss nodded after Winter trailed off. "By all rights, Adam should be dead and buried, but he's not. It goes against everything I've learned."

"Is there anything else to it?"

Weiss thought for a moment before nodding again. "When your Aura unlocks, a chill floods through your body, and remains in your chest," she tapped just above her heart, "until you've come to terms with what you've done."

"Have," Winter paused, looking down at the table in front of them. "Have you-"

"I haven't," Weiss said. "I've unlocked the other three, but not that one. Adam was a monster through and through. He may have had some morals once upon a time, but by the time I'd met him, they were gone, and all he cared about was revenge and he was driven by his anger. Him dying was truly the best thing that could have happened, but even knowing that," Weiss smiled sadly, "I don't think I could have let him die. I would have brought him in and had him charged for his crimes before the world."

"But Blake could?"

"Blake's history with Adam is more… intimate," Weiss said. "She knew him before he became a monster, before the White Fang became a bunch of terrorists. Like I said, I knew his death would have been the best thing that could have happened for the White Fang, and with what he's done, he deserves death."

"So, what exactly has he done to for his death to be such a good thing?" Winter asked.

Weiss sighed. "So many things. After Cinder took the White Fang under her command, Adam acted as their leader." Winter's eyes widened a bit. "He's tortured innocent people, had others, like Blake, tortured under his orders. Executed I don't even know how many, destroyed or had destroyed countless areas around Vale, and... he was the one cut off Yang's arm, just to get to Blake." Weiss shook her head, "At first we thought maybe Cinder had done something to him to force him to do it, but... as more things came to light about him it became clear he was really just a monster masquerading as a person anymore."

"And you don't think you could have let him die like Blake did?"

"I want to think that I would have been stopped by my morals," she looked down and muttered, "my desire to not become our father." Winter's eyes widened. "I don't want to undo that lock, I don't want to start down a path like him."

"And just what are the other three events?" Winter asked, trying to change the subject. "How are the others unlocked?"

"Well," Weiss took a deep breath and smiled in thanks to her sister, "let's start with Life. There are two ways to unlock it. The first method is by creating life, basically having a child. The second is to save a life. You have to intervene and prevent something from happening that would have killed the person you saved, whether you thought it would kill them or not. The sensation from this Key Event is a warmth spreading through your body.

"Trust and Hatred both have the same sensation. You physically shake. It's not hard, and it might not even be noticeable to other people, but it is there. Trust is unlocked when you, well, trust a person absolutely. Enough to give your life for them, or enough to place your life in their hands. To be willing and able to share your deepest and darkest secrets without worry. Trusting someone that much is," Weiss smiled a bit, "an incredible thing. Finally, we have the Key Event of Hatred," Weiss' smile disappeared. "This event is when you hate someone or even just some_thing_ with your entire being."

Winter sighed, "I think I might have unlocked that part of my Aura a long time ago."

Weiss smiled sadly, "I'm the same way. With our childhood there's no shame-" she stopped talking when the door to the kitchen opened. Looking back, she saw Ruby, Blake, and Yang walking back into the room. "How are things going?"

Blake nodded slowly. "I'm… okay. I just…"

"Freaked out," Weiss finished, prompting Blake to nod. "I can't blame you. So, what are we going to do now?"

"Where's Sun?" Blake asked, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"He left for the night," Ruby answered. Blake nodded, pulled out her scroll, and began dialing. "What are you doing?"

"I think we need to finish our talk now," she answered as she held the scroll up to her face. "Sun, could you come back?" In response there was a knock at the door, causing everyone to look up in surprise. Yang walked over and opened the door, revealing Sun on the other side.

"I figured I should wait a bit," he admitted.

"I guess that worked out," Yang said, as the two of them walked towards the table in the middle of the room.

"So, full story," Blake said, looking at her ex-boyfriend. "What have you been up to?"

Sun nodded. "Like I said, we only found out the White Fang were in the city the day you four went to Valak Mountain," his eyes moved over the four Huntresses. "Afterwards, we started looking around all the heavily faunus populated areas of the city. Figured they'd be the most likely places to maybe hear about recruiters," Blake nodded in agreement. "Well, we didn't find any. It wasn't until we happened to run into a speech being given by a politician named Seryy Lisa. He's a faunus campaigning for the council position of that big faunus district north of Ao Plaza. We were just in the area he was giving a speech in once, and we came across a few members."

"There were a few people wearing Grimm Masks?" Ruby asked.

"Obviously not," Weiss shook her head, sounding exasperated.

"Weiss is right," Sun said. "None of them were in uniform. We just saw a few people acting shady and I walked up to them. Turned out they were actually White Fang watching the proceedings. We got into a little fight and apprehended one, but since then, we've gotten nothing."

"And this leads into tomorrow night, how?" Weiss asked.

"We struck a deal with Seryy a bit later. We guard each of his speeches, he gets some of what we know about the White Fang. So far he thinks it's a small sect instead of the main force."

"And he's giving another speech tomorrow?" Yang asked.

"Not just him," Sun answered, "every candidate of his political party is giving a speech tomorrow."

"Wait!" Weiss pulled out her scroll and stared at the date before for nearly a minute before closing her eyes. "I've lost so much time over the last few months it failed to occur to me just how far into the year we've already gotten. Unless I'm specifically thinking of the date, I just can't process time correctly right now."

"Where's this going?" Ruby asked.

"The event is being held in Farraige," Winter answered.

"It is," Sun confirmed.

"I can see why you want help now," Weiss said. "The main theater in Farraige is immense."

"So do you think there's a good chance of the White Fang showing up?" Yang asked.

"Why would they show up?" Ruby asked, sounding, and feeling, confused. "You said he was a faunus, right?"

"We don't know," Sun admitted. "To both of those questions. But the four of us have searched all the faunus heavy areas of the city. We're out of ideas on where else to look. And as it stands, the one time we ran into any members, they were just observing. We, er, I was the one who started the fight there. Although they didn't seem all that interested in what he had to say. So," he looked between them, "what do you say?"

"Do we have an option?" Ruby asked, looking over at Blake.

"If this really is Adam, we need to know," Blake said. "_I _need to know at the very least."

"Yeah!" Yang pumped her robotic fist. "We deal with the White Fang, then we can move on to our other masked problem."

* * *

"Barty, you know you could come to Atlas," Amber said, leaning back in her chair, her scroll in her hands. "Ozpin's outright stated he'd find temporary replacement teachers if you chose to."

"I know," Oobleck answered, shuffling through several papers on his desk. "But after twenty years, I want to be kept up to date on what's happening, but," he sighed, "I'm not going to uproot my life over this."

Amber nodded. "I can't really blame you for that." As she finished talking a notification popped up in the upper corner of her scroll. "Huh, I'm getting a call from," she checked the notification, "a Vale CCT?"

"I would guess your niece," Oobleck suggested.

"Probably," Amber shrugged, pulling up the notification fully, Coco's picture appearing on the screen. "It is. I'm going to answer this, so, I'll make sure to keep you in the know." Oobleck nodded as she ended the call and answered the incoming one, Coco's picture being replaced by a live video feed. "Hey kiddo, how're things going?"

Coco sighed, "There have been three more fires since we started looking, and we've yet to catch the guy."

Amber nodded, "How often do they happen?"

"It's sporadic at best," Coco lamented. "The first two were just days apart, but the last one was weeks later. We've taken to just sleeping during the days and going out every night to patrol the area."

"It's you and another team's worth, right?"

Coco nodded, "Yes, and it still doesn't feel like enough at times with how large the area is, but we're keeping at it. Around now, they should be starting to prepare for tonight. Other than Velvet, she's probably already ready."

"She lives in that area, doesn't she?"

Coco nodded, "But that wouldn't be the reason. She's actually taken to visiting Rosa's mother." Amber smiled sadly. "And after we're done here, I'm going to go prepare for tonight too."

Amber nodded. "So, what'd you call for?"

"Well... it's related to what Velvet's been up to. You were friends with both Rosa and Mizu," It wasn't a question, but Amber nodded anyway. "I was wondering if you could tell me more about them. I learned some about Rosa from Professor Oobleck's classes, but never much, and I've heard some of what her mother's told Velv, but that's still second hand, and I know my teammates probably know me better than my mother does."

"Well, the first thing is that it's Doctor Oobleck, he's quite particular about that," Amber said, laughing a little. "And I'm sure my sister would like to know what you meant by that." She laughed again when Coco shifted a bit. "Don't worry, I know what you mean, your teammates become more of a family to you than your own family. So I won't tell her. Anyway, back on topic. Ironically, I just ended a call with Barty to answer yours, but for what I can tell you alone… I'd say there are four main stories you should hear."

"I'm listening."

Amber nodded, the small smile that had been on her face disappearing.

* * *

Adam rested his chin on his right hand, and grumbled at the monitor resting on the desk in front of him.

"Look, if you want us to get more, we're just going to need more time," Mercury said, his face displayed on the monitor.

"For your sake, you'd better minimize just how much time you'll need," Adam growled out as he ended the call.

"I take it they've failed to get anything of value?" Rowan asked, sitting across from Adam after having entered the room midway through the conversation.

"Quite the opposite," Adam answered, shifting his stance in his seat, and beginning to type. "They've gotten something of incredible value."

"And yet you still threaten him?" Rowan asked. "Personally I'm glad to see the human squirm, but that doesn't seem to follow your train of thought of late."

Adam smiled, looking amused. "Those two are a special case. No amount of effort will forgive their crimes against us over the last few years."

Rowan smiled happily, "That is wonderful news. Now, as for tonight..."

"As for tonight, you are not to attend," Adam cut him off.

Rowan opened his mouth for a second before closing it and nodding. "Yes, sir."

Adam stopped his typing to look up at the other man. "I understand this must be aggravating for you, but you have your own part to play in tonight's events, even if you don't partake in them yourself."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I understand you have a bit of a history with communications," Adam said, as he hit one last key on his keyboard, causing the logo of the Schnee Dust Company to appear on his monitor screen.

* * *

Winter yawned as she stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in most of her uniform. She made her way into Weiss' room but paused when she saw her sister already in there. "Did you just get back from Farraige?"

"We did," Weiss confirmed, lying down on her bed. "I heard the shower running and thought I'd wait for you."

"You just figured I'd be back in your room afterwards?" Winter asked skeptically as she walked over to the closet.

"I may have also checked to see if you'd taken your entire uniform with you or not," the older woman admitted. Winter nodded slowly as she retrieved her boots and jacket. "Do you still feel nervous?"

"Of course I do," Winter answered, sitting in the chair next to Weiss' desk. "I'm going to continue to feel that way until at least the end of today, if not longer." Looking up, Winter saw Weiss nodding, staring off into the distance. "How was it seeing Farraige again?"

"It was… bittersweet," Weiss admitted, not moving at all.

"It always is going there since mom left," Winter said. Neither one spoke for a moment. "When was the last time you went?" Winter asked. "The last time I can think of was when you wanted to stop there with your luggage before heading to Beacon."

"That was the last time I went," Weiss answered. "One last trip before I left the Kingdom for the first time. It was kind of my way of saying bye to mom."

Winter smiled sadly. "Do any of the others know?"

Weiss sighed again. "Ruby does, no surprises there. Yang knows part of it. I don't know if either of them told Blake anything, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say probably not." She laughed emotionlessly. "I suppose I'm lucky in a way that we're going to be in the largest theater as opposed to one of the lesser ones."

"Out of all the theaters there, I suppose that would be the one we're least familiar with," Winter said as she pinned the Dust embedded clasp of her jacket together around her throat. "I suppose it's a good thing mom had a preference for small scale musical numbers."

"Or just exclusively musical performances in general," Weiss suggested. "I don't think I can even name one that was upgraded to even one of the mid-sized theater halls."

"That's very true," Winter admitted. "Do you know how long this event is planned to run for?"

"On paper it's set to run from four to ten, however," Weiss paused and sighed, "it has a history of running until well past midnight." Winter made a sound of both surprise and slight disgust, which only prompted Weiss to nod. "Don't expect us to arrive while you're still awake."

"I'll keep that in mind," the younger Schnee said, standing back up. "I suppose you're preparing to rest until then."

Weiss nodded. "Not immediately, but soon enough. I'm guessing you're heading out soon."

Winter glanced at her scroll before nodding. "Right now." Weiss nodded, and pulled out her own scroll as Winter walked over to the door, only to pause and glance back. "I meant to ask, but you were busy all of last night."

"What is it?"

"What happens if someone experiences all four Key Events?"

Weiss smiled, looking amused. "Nothing. There's nothing different about undoing the fourth Lock compared to the previous three. That person is just as naturally efficient with their Aura as they can be, and it's not a particularly large boost either. Unless you were on the cusp of managing something beforehand, it's not going to suddenly make you proficient in it," her voice sounded as if she was speaking from experience.

Winter nodded, and exited the room, closing the door behind her. As she walked down the stairs, she didn't see anyone else, and made her way out of the apartment without even hearing the others. As she made her way out of the building, she gradually shifted into a form of mental autopilot. Without much thought, she made her way down the street towards Ao Plaza. When she reached the end of the street, instead of turning towards the parking garage, she turned the opposite direction and made her way down a flight of stairs in the sidewalk, entering a station of the city's expansive subway system.

When she took her seat on a train heading to Vetro Plaza, she felt all her nerves return in full force as she felt the eyes of some of the people around her pointed in her direction. This feeling did not leave her even when she stepped off the train, nor out of the subway entirely and only grew stronger when she stepped into Vetro Plaza and laid eyes on the entrance to the military headquarters. With each step towards the entrance, her nerves grew even more. Taking several deep breaths, Winter walked to the entrance and stepped inside.

When she first stepped into the room, she felt as though every eye in the lobby was focused on her, but by the time she reached the elevators, her anxiety has lapsed slightly. The only people in the room who had given her a second glance had been the soldiers working security, and none of them had looked at her suspiciously. When the elevator doors closed, Winter pulled out her wallet, retrieved her ID card, and swiped it. As she put her card back in her wallet, she pressed the one button that was lit up blue and waited as the elevator ascended. As she waited, Winter took a deep breath to try and further calm her nerves.

"Punctual, Schnee, very punctual," Prasi's voice reached her as she stepped out of the elevator. Turning around, Winter saw the older woman leaning against the wall next to the elevators. "You're pretty much perfectly on time."

"Were you sent to greet me again?" Winter asked, trying, and failing, to keep her voice calm.

Prasi laughed and waved her off as she stepped forward. "No. I figured you'd be nervous, and it looks like I was right." She looked the younger woman up and down for a moment. "Interesting changes. I like it."

"Thank you," Winter said as they began walking across the laboratory. "You seem to have a lot of leeway."

Prasi nodded. "I'm the head of Cybernetics. As such, until someone manages another breakthrough, things are progressing steadily, but slowly. So, for the meantime, I'm mostly just making sure nothing goes bad when Polendina decides to make his own adjustments to his arm."

"Does he do that often?" Winter asked, looking at the other woman curiously.

"Every few weeks," Prasi shrugged. "We have power failures more often. However, when he decides to do it, it's either a brilliant change, or a complete wreck. More than once we've had to scrap an arm and start again from scratch."

"That sounds like a huge waste of money," Winter said.

"It would be," Prasi smiled, "if it wasn't for the fact that he's the only one we have that can run it. Almost everyone here is like you, they started as researchers. Polendina may not be the only one who started as a soldier, but he's the only one that both needs a limb and produces electricity."

"I'm guessing not too many people are volunteering for limb replacement."

"Not really," Prasi turned as they reached the entrance to Winter's work area, "and it's not like we'd take them up on the offer. Even if we were interested in that, we can't exactly do so legally."

"That's true," Winter said, looking into the area.

"I'll be back at the end of your shift."

"Excuse me," Winter glanced back at her.

"We're working the same hours," Prasi answered, beginning to walk away. "I'm interested to hear how you feel after your first day."

"Okay," Winter responded, turning back towards the door and entering the area.

"Ah, Schnee, right on time," Lehti called as she walked into the small antechamber outside of the Dust research lab. Labelled hooks were on both walls unoccupied by a door. Most hooks were empty, however some, hers included, still had lab coats hanging on them.

"Sir," Winter responded professionally.

"Relax," Lehti said, smiling kindly. "You look like a nervous wreck. You're useless to us freaking out. We're not here to force you to be super serious and quiet. That's soldier stuff. All we ask is that you respect your superiors, mostly Polendina, and do what's asked of you." He turned around. "Oh," he glanced back, "and never be mean to Penny."

Winter smiled slightly as she began to relax somewhat. "Yes, sir."

"Now, grab your coat, and I'll show you your first project."

"Yes, sir," Winter nodded, retrieving the coat off of her hook. When she finished putting it on, Lehti motioned for her to follow him, and stepped into the main area. When Winter entered behind him, he immediately began walking towards a table in a corner near the door. He picked up a set of Dust cords of various shades of yellow when she stopped next to him.

"These are the cords that caused a power outage last time you were here," he said, setting them down, and slicing one open, letting the ground up Dust fall into a tray. "Or rather, they're from the same set." He turned the cord over, revealing a label. "The terminal here will let you look through the files for what we want the cords to do and the mixtures used. We want you to review them and filter the mixtures into their composite varieties. Then we want you to recommend adjustments to the formulas to get them to perform how we want."

"'We', sir?" Winter asked as she looked at the mound of multicolored Dust lying in the tray.

"Polendina and I," Lehti answered, an amused smile beginning to cross his face. "Since the outage, the mixtures have already been adjusted and moved on to more testing. We want to see how you respond to the same info we had. Consider it the first test of your probation."

"Yes, sir," Winter said. As Lehti walked away, Winter smiled confidently and relaxed even more as she held some of the Dust in her gloved hand.

* * *

All light vanished from a small room. The walls were made from carved stone, and were well worn with age and lack of care, suggesting it had been abandoned for a long period of time. When the darkness began to dissipate, and light returned to the room, Red Mask stood there for a moment before exiting into a corridor lit, just as the room had been, with numerous torches. He moved swiftly, not pausing for even a moment as he made his way through the area. Even after he rounded a corner and walked down another corridor whose left wall was marked with numerous loopholes, he did not pause to look out of them. It was only when he reached the end of this corridor that he came to a stop.

"Are you going to say something?" he asked, turning around. "You started following me halfway down this hallway, so say something."

Orange Mask giggled. "Oh, I was just wondering how long you think the White Fang can go until their little base is discovered."

"They've been searching for over a month to no avail so far," Red Mask answered, turning around.

"That's true," Orange Mask answered, following him as he walked away. "But the only ones searching so far have been a group not familiar with Atlas at all. Now that Weiss is up, it's only a matter of time before she gets involved as well."

Red Mask laughed a bit. "If the Schnee girl wishes to come find the White Fang, we'll gladly open our doors for her to come in."

"What? Another trap? Didn't the last one get someone killed?"

"That it did," Red Mask confirmed.

"Then why do it again?" Orange Mask asked, quickly moving around him while also turning to face him without ceasing to walk backwards. "Surely you must know it probably won't work again."

"You say that as if I had a say in the decision," Red Mask grunted.

Orange Mask giggled again. "That's true. Now, any idea when this'll go down?"

"What's gotten you so jumpy lately?" Red Mask said. "Well, more jumpy than normal."

"I'm booored," Orange Mask whined out childishly. "The boss hasn't let me have any fun since back on the mountain."

"Oh, so you've stopped riding the high from burning down an abandoned town then," Red Mask said sarcastically. "And here I thought it was something strange."

Orange Mask giggled. "Well you know me."

"Unfortunately," Red Mask said, prompting the woman to giggle again.

"I mean, yes, I exposed myself and he had to hide me behind one of his illusions before they realized who I was, but I directed them towards the church."

"Yes, you really pulled your weight."

"Hey," Orange Mask pushed his head to the side, "I'm beginning to think you're not taking me seriously."

"Do any of us take you seriously?"

"Meh," she shrugged. "Probably not, but at least the others try and hide it. Now anyway," she continued without missing a beat, "about tonight…"

"I don't even know where you're going with that, but I've been forbidden from attending," Red Mask answered simply.

"Oh," Orange Mask said. "Well that's just perfect then. I won't be the only one stuck watching that at a distance then." Red Mask just looked at her, glaring at her through his mask, which only prompted her to laugh.

* * *

"Yes dad," Ruby said, speaking into her scroll as she, the rest of her team, and Team SSSN made their way into the entrance of the park, all of them wearing warm clothing over their suits and dresses, bar Yang, whose only addition to her outfit was Ember Celica folded down over her black gloves. "I understand, bye."

"Sometimes I forget how overbearing your dad can be," Scarlet said as Ruby put her scroll back away. "Has he been calling like that a lot?"

"Ever since we woke up, yeah," Ruby answered. Scarlet just nodded.

"Sun, what are you looking at?" Weiss asked, following the young man's gaze up into the sky above them.

Sun laughed. "It's really dumb, but ever since we captured that one White Fang lady, I've taken to checking the sky for as many airships as I can." Weiss nodded, her eyes locking onto a small ship flying high above them.

"Speaking of airships," Neptune said, "I expected Atlas' skies to be filled with them. Like the skies over the last two Vytal Festivals were, but I can barely make any out here."

Weiss nodded again. "Unless they're called on for something, such as festival security, most of Atlas' airship fleets are actually located in the other three Kingdoms. Most soldiers are trained to fight in other environments once they're finished with boot camp, so the airships follow them. Same with the navy ships in the harbor. The only ones you'll see around here belong to the Coast Guard."

"You've also mentioned security being tight at the last Vytal Festival before, was it really that bad?" Ruby asked.

"It was worse than you're imagining more than likely," Sage answered. "Everyone was paranoid there would be another incident like at the one in Vale, so the Vacuo council asked for as much help as they could get."

"Which of course left Vale understaffed when Cinder actually struck," Weiss shook her head.

"Hey, at least Vale had you four," Neptune said.

"Yeah," Ruby ran ahead and turned back. "Vale was in great hands with us there!" Weiss couldn't help but smile at the younger woman's enthusiasm.

"Anyway," Weiss said, "back to what we were originally talking about. The airships you'll see around Atlas most of the time are actually privately owned. There are military ships doing patrols of course, but they're very much the minority."

"Of all the places I'd be least likely to see Atlas military airships, I really didn't think it would be Atlas," Scarlet said. Weiss nodded as she glanced behind the group, her smile quickly disappearing. Yang and Blake were lagging several feet behind everyone else, and they both looked stressed. Blake's face conveyed an incredible amount of worry and anxiety, whereas Yang's entire body gave off concern.

"Farraige coming up," Ruby called out, prompting Blake and Yang to catch up with the rest of the group. "You said your mom liked this place, right?" Ruby asked, looking at Weiss.

Weiss sighed, "I didn't plan on having that brought up now, but yes."

"Sorry," Ruby said. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Weiss said as they made their way across the crowded entrance. "Winter and I came here a lot when we were younger. Our mother always loved hearing one band perform whenever they came to Atlas. Now," she said, preemptively cutting off anyone else, "let's just get into position for the event." Everyone nodded, and walked inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't allow weapons inside the building," one of the workers said, coming up to them before they'd even taken ten steps.

"We were hired for security," Weiss answered, pulling out her scroll and showing him the info.

The worker read it, and looked over the group. "Follow me, and I'll confirm this."

"Alright," Ruby said. They followed him to the opposite side of the theater and under the stairs. Once inside the hallway underneath, they took an immediate right into a small room with a dozen chairs that they sat down in.

"Wait here," the worker said, leaving. Ten minutes later, he walked back into the room. "Sorry for the inconvenience, we don't normally have outside security brought in, even for events such as these. Most people are fine relying on our hidden sensors."

"It's fine," Ruby said.

The worker nodded, "All of you can leave your coats here in here to be picked up later, and I was told that Yang Xiao Long and Sun Wukong are to proceed backstage."

"That's us," the two blondes answered as they presented themselves.

The worker nodded. "Head straight to the end of the hallway, more workers will let you pass into the main area." The two of them nodded and exited the room. "Now, Ruby Rose, Neptune Vasilias, and Miss Schnee," he nodded towards Weiss as the three of them stood, "You're to make your way up to the third floor. The rest of you are to head into the main entrance on the second floor."

"Sounds good," Neptune answered.

"Hey, so…" Sun started after the door closed behind them, "how's Blake doing?"

Yang sighed as the two of them began walking slowly down the hallway. "I wish I could say she's doing fine, but," she shook her head, "you know her. Once she got worked up about the White Fang…"

Sun nodded. "She couldn't sleep?"

"Not at all," Yang sighed. "I woke up in the middle of the night and went to get something to drink and I found her out on our balcony. At the very least she admitted it's a problem, but it wasn't enough for her to relax."

"So she hasn't gotten any sleep at all?"

"She got some after we went back home after checking this place out the first time," Yang answered. "You know, you really should have told us sooner."

Sun nodded. "That one's all on me. I knew you four would want to jump right into looking into this, especially with Adam, but you weren't in any condition to do it."

"That's true," Yang shook her head again. "I still think you should have told us, but it probably is a good thing you waited a bit in the end even if Blake…" she trailed off.

"Freaked out?" Sun suggested.

"That's a term for it," Yang said, assuming a more professional stance as they reached the end of the hallway. Sun just kept walking casually.

"So what do we do now?" Scarlet asked as he, Sage, and Blake walked into the main seating area on the second floor.

"Wait until people start crowding in," Sage answered as Blake remained quiet.

"Sounds easy enough," Scarlet said as he pulled out his pistol and began checking it.

Blake made her way over to a corner and leaned against the wall, looking at the ground. With nothing to do, her mind quickly began to wander. Her thoughts moved to Adam, and the events from several months prior. With that, they wandered to the incredible feeling of cold that had remained with her for a month. Just thinking about it, she could almost feel the cold begin to grow within her chest once again.

"Blake, are you alright?" Blake jumped and looked up to see Sage standing nearby with Scarlet right behind him. Blake sighed and shook her head. Sage sighed as well as he leaned against the wall next to her. "I'm not going to claim I know everything about your past with Adam. I doubt I even know a fraction of the story, but I do know we'll find him and the WF eventually."

Blake nodded slowly as Scarlet moved around. "With Weiss knowing the city as well as she does, things should move faster from now on too."

Blake smiled a bit. "Thanks guys."

"Oh, I think I see Yang and Sun moving on stage," Ruby said as two blonde figures moved onto either side of the stage from just behind the edges of the open curtain.

"That's definitely them," Weiss confirmed as the seats below them were gradually being filled.

"And I'm guessing we'll start getting people joining us up here soon," Neptune said, moving away from the edge to head to the back of the area.

"Yeah, probably," Ruby said, moving to the back as well towards the opposite corner from the blue haired man while Weiss remained in front. Less than ten minutes later, the doors opened, and people began to file in.

"Weiss Schnee," a man said when the room was half full. Weiss looked up from the area below them in surprise and turned around to look at who had spoken. "When we were told that there would be Huntsmen present, I wasn't expecting you."

"I've been hired as security for this event," Weiss said simply and professionally.

"A Schnee hired for this? That's laughable," the man shook his head. "Here more likely to try and pull something funny."

Weiss bowed her head. "I know you may have issues with my family, but I can assure you that I am here on business."

"A paycheck," the man said, beginning to walk away, "that's all you people care about."

"Hey, just leave her alone!" Neptune called out.

"And who are you?" the man demanded.

"Another Huntsman hired for this," Neptune answered. "Say what you want about her father, but Weiss isn't here to cause any problems. And even, especially, if you think all us Huntsmen care about is money, then rest assured, we'll do our job." The man grumbled as he moved to his seat. Weiss smiled gratefully at Neptune before turning back around and began to scan the area below them again.

"I knew there were people who don't like how much freedom Huntsmen and Huntresses get, and the last four years have definitely shown me how much people can hate Weiss' family, but that was a little too far," Ruby whispered to Neptune. When the man nodded in response, she returned to where she had been standing.

Once the auditorium was filled in its entirety, with more than just a few people standing between the seats, the lights were turned off, leaving the room to be lit only by the sunlight streaming through the windows in the roof. A moment later, even this source of light was blocked as the windows were covered by long black covers. As all other light in the room faded, the stage lights turned on, illuminating the somewhat crowded stage.

"Hello," an older man said, taking center stage as Ruby moved forward to get a better view, "and welcome to our forty-first triennial convention."

"They've only been around for fourteen years?" Ruby asked in confused surprise.

Weiss shook her head a bit, "Triennial not triannual. They've been around for over one hundred years."

"Oh," Ruby said, looking back at the stage. "That makes a lot more sense."

"Now," the man continued to speak, "I'm sure everyone here physically already knows their names, but for anyone watching at home, work, school, or anywhere else, let me introduce to you, our candidates."

"So, what exactly are they doing?" Ruby asked under her breath.

Weiss sighed, and motioned over at Neptune for him to take the front view while the two of them moved back. "You really should have read into this before," Weiss said, continuing the conversation at a near unhearable volume.

"Yeah, well, that's why I have you," Ruby said innocently.

Weiss sighed again, but didn't look angry or annoyed. "They're announcing which candidates will receive the party's official backing come elections. Generally it's whoever is the most popular, but it's not unheard of for someone else to receive it."

"Does every party do this?"

Weiss nodded. "If they're large enough. Only about… four are large enough to use Farraige, at least consistently, but there are… three other parties who have their own conventions, then easily dozens of other small groups who have candidates, but they never get elected."

"...and finally Seryy Lisa for the North Ao District," the man finished speaking, prompting polite if loud applause from the crowd as Ruby nodded. "As the candidate with the largest support by far, I believe Mister Lisa should give our introduction speech." Polite clapping filled the room as the man stepped forward, and quickly died down when he cleared his throat into the microphone.

"I must admit," he spoke, his voice measured, but letting some emotion through. "It is an incredible honor to be standing here tonight." Seryy sighed. "Even just a few years ago, the idea of a faunus representing one of our major parties would have been laughable, even to me. Because of that, standing here right now is nearly overwhelming. It's truly incredible. However, there is one thing I must address before we move on to the rest of our proceedings. For this event, this party has hired additional security in the form of a number of Huntsmen and Huntresses, and it saddens me that we have been forced to this extreme, and, as a man who loves this city, and as a faunus who loves his species, the reason only saddens me further."

Seryy looked around the room. "We hired these Huntsmen and Huntresses due to the activities of the White Fang." He paused, a deep silence filling the room as a chill ran down Blake's spine. "I do not know why they have taken an interest in our events, nor do I know how many there are, but I do know this: They do not represent the interests of my species, and they have not since they chose to embrace the path of violence.

"Violence is a fool's method of advancement. Fear will _never_ bring about true advancements in our world. It may provide ostensible help in the moment, but it plants the seeds of a deep-seated hatred that will inevitably surface and ruin all you have attempted to correct. Violence is a road to nothing but failure."

Seryy paused, and closed his eyes for a moment. "As a man who knows the pain of discrimination, whose parents grew up during the Faunus Rights Revolution, and whose sister was once beaten in the street for the crime of being born with an appendage that humans do not possess, it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that the only way to truly eliminate racism from this world is by refusing to teach the next generation to discriminate. Whether it be from parents forcing their racist views on their impressionable children, or by exposing innocent people the sting of racism. And it is either in ignorance or denial of this fact that the White Fang acts, and, because of this, they only set their own cause back."

"I think I can see why Sun likes him," Weiss said as Seryy stepped back as most of the room was filled with polite clapping. Some parts of the room, however, were filled with rabid applause.

From his place on stage, Sun could easily make out the distinctive silhouettes of various types of animal ears, antlers, and horns adorning the heads of much of the cheering section of the crowd. Blake couldn't help but smile broadly as she saw the response from her place in the back corner opposite of where they were, and had to resist clapping along. Sage, who was standing just behind the section, clapped along freely. However neither Scarlet, from his place near the middle of the crowd, anyone on the large balcony above them, nor Yang, who could only make out the front few rows through the twilight enveloping the crowd, could see the cheering faunus, they all figured out the reason without issue.

As each candidate spoke and was cheered, time slipped by quickly, and before anyone had realized how late it had gotten, the ceiling windows were uncovered as the convention went on break. The sky above was rapidly turning orange.

"It's already that late?" Ruby asked as she met up with Weiss and Neptune in the back of the area.

"And we still have a long time to go," Weiss pointed out as the doors opened and people began moving in an out. "We have an hour until things start up again, so let's eat while we can."

* * *

"So, how was your first day, Schnee?" Prasi asked as Winter stepped out of her work area.

"Relaxing," Winter said, stretching slightly as the two of them began walking across the floor.

"That was certainly not the answer I was expecting to hear," Prasi laughed as they stopped in front of the elevator.

"It was just me working alone with Dust," Winter said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. "It was peaceful."

Prasi nodded. "Is this going to be an assignment you work on for a while?"

Winter shook her head. "No. At least I don't expect it to be."

"Care to share the details?"

"I'll gladly tell you if you'll tell me where we're going," Winter said as the doors opened again.

Prasi nodded as they stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor. "Fair enough. If you're not planning on heading home to eat, there's a nice restaurant I figured we could get a bite at. Well," she paused for a bit, "it's a good restaurant. I wouldn't call it nice by any standard I imagine you're used to."

"That's perfectly fine," Winter answered as they stepped out into Vetro Plaza, the sky above colored orange from the setting sun. "The others were hired for something tonight, so it would have just been me at home."

"Ah, the life of Huntresses," Prasi said. "Anyway, how did you get to work this morning?"

"Since I got a card for it last week, I took the train," Winter answered.

Prasi nodded. "Probably a smart decision given the traffic at the time. And makes this easier. The restaurant's nowhere near Vetro, it's a few blocks off the eastern edge of the Central Ring."

Winter nodded as well, laughing slightly. "I would certainly call that far. The only areas farther away are near Schnee Plaza and beyond it."

"So, catch a train ride there then we split up and each head home?"

"Sounds like a valid plan to me," Winter answered.

"Perfect," Prasi said, taking the lead on the way to the subway entrance. "So while we're heading there, you can tell me all that Lehti has you doing."

"Alright," Winter agreed. "Then I have a few questions for you."

"That's fine," Prasi said as they descended into the subway station. Once they took their seats, Winter began explaining, and the next thing she knew, they were sitting down at the restaurant. "Like I said earlier, that's certainly more complex than most new hires, but then again, you're hardly most new hires." Winter smiled. "Now, you had questions for me?"

"Yes," Winter nodded. "I'm curious how you came to be the head of cybernetics. A fair number of the people in it seem to be around Polendina's age, maybe a little younger, but you're just around fifteen years older than I am."

Prasi nodded. "I've always been interested in robotics, so when I was in school, that's what I focused on. After graduation, I went into the private sector. The company that hired me had just begun early tests on advanced cybernetics… well advanced for the time, you know how that works." Winter nodded as Prasi shrugged. "I did what I could, and showed what I had. But, tech companies have a tendency to either blow up in size or come crashing down. Unfortunately where I chose to work came crashing down. However," she smiled, "I was fortunate enough to have wound up on Polendina's radar right when the military was ramping up its own cybernetics R&amp;D. All the older researchers started in classical robotics and shifted fields as demands changed. I came already trained, just as you're trained in Dust. I'm hardly the first person in the lab who was working on it, Polendina already had his first arm by the time I showed up, but among them I've had the most successful career."

Winter smiled. "That's certainly a tale."

Prasi nodded. "And it's been a fun one to live out. And it's because of it that I believe, short of something happening to Lehti in the next few years, you'll be the next person to take over as the head of Dust research when he retires even with most of your current coworkers being older than you. Older than me in the case of at least one of them."

Winter smiled more broadly. "Thank you."

"No problem, just don't let it go to your head. Now, any-" she was cut off by Winter's scroll ringing.

Scrunching her eyebrows, Winter pulled out the device. Surprise crossed the white haired woman's face as she answered and held her scroll to her ear. "Hello, Scarlett."

"Winter, have you heard from Weiss at all over the last, er, ten, fifteen minutes?" the older woman asked. Her voice sounded off, but Winter couldn't place it over the noise of the restaurant.

"Weiss, no I haven't. Why?" Winter asked. "Did something come up?"

"You haven't heard? It's all over the news," Scarlett said as Winter recognized the tone in her voice as being of worry.

"What?" Winter looked around, seeing a television over the bar nearby.

"What is it?" Prasi asked.

"Could you get that TV changed to a news channel?" Winter asked.

Prasi didn't miss a beat, and immediately nodded, turning back towards the bartender. "Hey, Channel 115!"

"115. You're checking the news now?" Scarlett asked, having overheard, as the bartender nodded, and pulled out a remote.

"Yes," Winter answered as the channel changed.

"...we still have no confirmation of what is occurring within Farraige," a news reporter spoke as camera footage showed the old theater from above. "We have yet to receive an update since footage from the political event was cut several minutes ago, and we have yet to be able to get inside of the main theater, as the window coverings are preventing us from seeing inside, and our camera drone cannot enter the building. We will have to wait until one of our crews arrive."

"Weiss was at the event, wasn't she?" Scarlett asked.

Winter nodded before realizing Scarlett couldn't see her. "Yes, she and the others were hired for security."

"We have just received notification of gunshots from within the main theater, potentially spilling out into the lobby!" the reporter called out.

"Scarlett, I'll call you back if I learn anything," Winter said.

"Alright," Scarlett replied, ending the call.

"Who would attack the big _liberal_ party?" Prasi asked as the entire restaurant grew quiet. "Last I checked, the White Fang wasn't exactly annoyed with them, and I know some conservative groups were annoyed at them, but none of them threatened _this_."

Winter didn't say anything as the front doors of Farraige were blown open, and a small group of people came flying out. As the camera zoomed in, another figure with dark skin and green hair stepped out that Winter recognized as Sage. As the camera focused on him for a moment, he was joined by Blake as several flashes came from inside as well. A moment later, the camera shifted towards the small group that had been thrown from the building who had been joined by others.

"Are those… Grimm masks?" the reporter asked. "Oh my god, I think the White Fang has attacked the convention!"

"Oh no…" Winter said as she saw the two Huntsmen continue to fight the group of terrorists outside the theater, with several more members appearing from within the trees around the area.

"Why would the White Fang attack?" Prasi asked in disbelief. "There's a faunus running as one of their candidates!" Several minutes passed as the cameras held at a distance, unable to observe the commotion inside. Before it had come to an end, the screen cut to black. "Did the TV go out?" The bartender just shrugged as he reached for the remote again.

As if in response, the screen lit back up, showing a man with short red hair that nearly concealed a small pair of horns. His eyes were hidden behind a half face Grimm Mask covered with red markings.

"My name is Adam Taurus," he said, speaking calmly. "Some of you may know who I am, but for those of you who don't: I am the leader of the White Fang. And," he held up a scroll, "despite what you may have heard," he stopped speaking for a moment.

"...Despite what you may have heard," his scroll repeated, showing the broadcast being covered by a different news station in real time.

"I am very much alive," he finished his sentence, the scroll repeating it after a brief delay. "That should serve as more than enough proof that this is not prerecorded," he put the device away. "Now, I have a message to deliver. As I have just proven, I am not dead. In fact, I am more powerful than ever. And as our demonstration today shows, so is the White Fang.

"And now for my message: I give Atlas, both the Council and all businesses within it, until one month into the new year to begin truly working in favor of faunus rights. This should give you plenty of time to finish with your elections and change your councilmen if necessary. However, once the time I am giving you has expired, we will strike, and we shall not excuse those who stand by as others suffer," he paused for a moment, letting the implication set in.

"Tonight's attack serves as evidence of our new conviction. One of the most grievous, yet consistently unpunished crimes in this world is the crime of inaction. We shall no longer stand for this. All those who do not stand with us, or our ideals, shall be considered to stand against us. It does not matter if the inaction comes from businesses such as the SDC, or if it is the government of Atlas itself. It also does not matter if the people who do not stand with us are human or faunus," he paused letting his last word sink in. "Any faunus who allows others of their kind to be discriminated against is no faunus in our eyes. You are traitors to your species, and you shall be treated in kind.

"This has been your first and only warning." When his face disappeared from the screen, the news station returned almost immediately.

"Are they _trying_ to bring the Grimm?" Prasi asked in disbelief, but she received no answer, nor did she expect one.

Silence hung in the restaurant for nearly a minute, unbroken until Winter's scroll rang once again.

* * *

"Time to start again," Yang said, stretching a little before walking out on stage.

"Unfortunately," Sun replied walking around to the opposite side. Several minutes later, the windows were recovered, and the main lights went out, however the stage lights didn't turn on, leaving the room dark. "Everybody down!" Sun yelled at the top of his voice. Almost immediately, the sounds of gunshots went off from the back area of the crowd. When the lights came back on, many, but far from all, of the faunus in the back of the room were standing, holding pistols they'd been able to sneak in, and wearing Grimm Masks.

"How did they..." Ruby asked, feeling dumbfounded as she ran out of the upper area, Neptune by her side.

"I don't know," he answered cutting her off. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Weiss, however, had jumped over the ledge, using her glyphs as platforms to make her way down. Before she'd even made it a quarter of the way down, a bullet flew past her body, missing her by a foot. Below her, numerous white flashes lit the room from numerous people's Auras. As she landed, Weiss generated numerous light blue glyphs in a straight line in the row of seats behind where she landed. A moment later, a tall, thick wall of ice seemingly rose out of the ground, separating the White Fang from the rest of the room.

Unlike Sun, Blake hadn't been able to see the shooting start from where she had been standing. However, her first reaction was to run into the fray, and strike out at one of the members who was aiming at one of the politicians. When the wall of ice began rapidly forming, she grabbed two people that had been caught on the wrong side of it, and jumped. At the height of her jump, she created a Shadow to jump a second time in midair. As soon as she landed on the other side, she repeated the process to get back over, and began escorting as many people to safety as she could.

The moment Sun had called out to get down, Yang ran forward while deploying Ember Celica over her arms. When she reached the edge of the stairs, she leapt forward, but couldn't fire her gauntlets for fear of hitting the people below her, and instead only jumped as far as she could propel herself with her legs alone. By the time she had only crossed half of the hall, the wall of ice had already been erected.

"Yang!" Scarlet called out, waving towards her. Yang nodded, and changed course towards him. When she reached the young man, he interlaced his fingers, and helped to propel her up over the ice. At the height of her boosted jump, she fired down, the area immediately next to the ice having cleared, and launched herself over the top of the ice. Pulling back her right arm as she began to fall, she punched the ground when she landed, generating a powerful shockwave that knocked almost everyone within the wall around as the people blown back by the attack itself flew into others.

As the White Fang members picked themselves up, Weiss struck out with rapid strikes from Myrtenaster, knocking those struck back down, while Sage, who had been within the walled in area to begin with, was striking multiple people at a time with his large blade, sending them flying around. By the time Scarlet had made his way over the wall, the White Fang soldiers were pulling back and fleeing out of the room. Following them out, the five Huntsmen and Huntresses who exited the auditorium found reinforcements flooding the lobby, and each and every one of them were far better armed than the group that had been in the auditorium.

Neptune and Ruby were busy shooting anyone that tried to make their way up to them on the upper walkways. It was only when the others joined and started reducing the numbers down below that they had any reprieve from their own assault, and instead began sniping onto the lower areas.

"You know, I didn't really realize just how high up we were until just now," Neptune commented as he aimed down at the mass of people below.

"Why are there so _many_!?" Yang demanded, nearly screaming the last word as she slammed the ground once again, firing her gauntlets as she landed to empower the blast, creating another shockwave to clear a small area. Her Semblance in full effect, her hair glowing a bright white washed yellow, a faint reddish glow coming from her right glove.

"'How?' is a better question," Weiss replied, generating a light blue glyph below herself. Myrtenaster was immediately enveloped in a large amount of ice, giving it the appearance of an overly large greatsword that she used to send a large amount of White Fang soldiers flying as well. Once she was done with the strike and the ice blade began to dissipate, she generated a dozen glyphs, all colored brown, around her. One moment later, large stone pillars erupted out of the the glyphs, sending numerous people flying.

Meanwhile, Blake was surrounded by the soldiers. Holding her blades at the ready, as soon as one of them struck, she lunged between two of them, leaving behind a red Shadow. As she struck both people she had lunged towards with both the main blade and the sharpened sheath of Gambol Shroud, she heard her Shadow explode along with the cries of those caught in the fiery explosion. Quickly generating another Shadow, this one green, Blake jumped back into the now cleared area. As her second Shadow exploded in a blast of wind that cleared the area further, Blake collapsed Gambol Shroud's main blade and threw it, using the chain scythe to strike out at her now distant enemies.

Above her, Scarlet had taken up a vantage point on the second floor walkway near the stairs to the third floor. Armed only with his pistol, he aided in the shooting while remaining close enough to easily trip up anyone with his grappling hook, which he made use of almost immediately when he saw someone attacking Sage from behind near the front door. When the green haired man heard someone hit the ground behind him, he swung wide, knocking everyone in front of him away, and through the front door. As he stepped out, Blake joined him, and they readied their weapons as more members of the White Fang made themselves known in the trees around the building.

"I think we know where the reinforcements came from," Sage said.

"Explains why they're better armed," Blake added as they began attacking the various newcomers.

While all of this was going on, Sun had never left the auditorium. When he'd made it over Weiss' wall of ice, he found it mostly cleared out, with only a few members left behind, one of which was a young woman with platinum blonde hair and a small set of antlers that he recognized immediately. "What's your name again!?" he demanded in aggravation. "Ash!?"

"Good memory," she smiled, her voice taunting him as she pulled out a full face Grimm Mask and put it on. The mask was relatively plain and mostly flat with only a few red markings surrounding the eyeholes, with two sets of red lines moving down from the other markings to the bottom of the mask.

"I guess you're rather high up then," Sun said, recognizing the mask as being identical to the old White Fang Lieutenant's.

In response, she pulled out a pair of twin daggers while the other members left the room. "Round two?"

"You're on," he grunted out as he readied Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.

Ash struck first, quickly closing the distance between the two of them with a sprint. When Sun brought up one of the shotguns to point it at her face, she was close enough to knock his arm way with her right hand and struck out with a jab with her left. Sun quickly spun around and brought both nunchaku around to strike her back, but Ash had already used her momentum to roll forward, causing the attack to soar over her. As she stood back up, she quickly spun around to keep facing him, her taunting smile never leaving her face.

Sun responded by bringing up his other shotgun to fire now that they were farther apart. However, his attack missed when Ash jumped into the air above him. She easily flew twenty feet above him before spinning around and flying down, daggers first. Sun jumped out of the way, but felt himself knocked back by a shock wave produced by her impact with the ground. When he landed, Sun quickly stood back up and turned, only to have his jaw nearly drop from the large crater the new White Fang lieutenant was standing in.

"What's the matter, surprised?" she asked, her taunting smile turning fiendish.

Grunting out, Sun worked the levers on both his shotguns before striking out once again. Ash spun around, and slashed towards his back, to which Sun responded by combining Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang into their staff form and sweeping out with it. His attack hitting home, Sun smiled for a moment before he felt his swing stop dead in the air as his staff grew incredibly heavy and and went crashing to the ground.

As soon as Ash hit the ground again, she jumped over him. At the height of her jump, she reached down and set one of her hands on his shoulder, her hand catching his jacket's collar, allowing one of her fingers to touch the skin of his neck. The moment she touched him, Sun felt his entire body, his jacket, and his shirt underneath it all grow multiple times heavier, preventing him from moving. This sensation only lasted a brief moment, however as it ceased the moment she launched herself off of him. Easily reaching the top of the ice wall, she landed on top of one of the wall's peaks, and turned towards him.

Grabbing one end of his staff, Sun fired out from it without breaking the weapon apart. Ash dodged the attack by jumping yet again, and landed on the opposite side of the walled in area. Despite the height at which she had jumped from, she made almost no sound when she landed. Sun responded immediately, shifting his staff into the crook of his arm, and slamming the palms of his hands together. The moment his hands collided, several golden clones of himself were formed from light and rushed forward towards his opponent.

When the first one reached her, she struck out at it with the dagger in her right hand, only to be knocked into the air and backwards from the explosion the astral projection had produced. She flew for less than a foot before she hit the ground with a loud slamming sound. A moment later, she jumped and reached the top of the ice wall once again. As Sun broke his concentration and let his second clone dissipate, Ash jumped once again, landing on the balcony above. Fearful shouts from the people still occupying the balcony filled the room. Glaring up at the edge where Ash had landed, Sun saw her look back over and give him a mocking salute.

So focused were Ruby and Neptune on shooting down onto the lower areas to assist their friends, neither of them noticed when the doors behind them were opened, and only became aware of someone else in their presence when both of them felt an incredible force strike their backs, knocking them off the balcony. Trying to slow their descent, Ruby grabbed Neptune around his waist and fired downwards with Crescent Rose. While the recoil had slowed the two of them down slightly, when they struck the ground, they were still left stunned somewhat from the impact. However, they were able to recover quickly, and shifted their weapons into their melee forms preparing to strike the White Fang members around them.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" Ash called out from where she'd knocked Ruby and Neptune off the walkway. "Adam's message has been sent, and we have made our strength clear! Now is the time to flee before reinforcements of theirs can arrive!" Immediately, the massive mob of White Fang members moved towards the door, the still able bodied helping the weakened and unconscious. Instead of joining them, Ash made her way across the third floor catwalk.

"Where's she going?" Blake asked.

"Probably the ramparts," Weiss answered.

"Then let's go," Yang called out, running towards the stairs. "She's clearly in charge, if we can get her, it'll be a major blow."

"She's right," Blake said.

"Alright, you follow her," Ruby said as Sun ran up to them. "Weiss and I and the guys'll try and stop as many of the rest from leaving as we can." Blake nodded, and used her Semblance to double jump up to the second floor, catching up with Yang immediately.

"Hey," the male leader called out, "be wary of her, she's got some kind of gravity Semblance!"

"Got it!" Blake called out as she and Yang reached the third floor. The doors to the outside were opposite the upper entrances to the largest theaters in the building. The two Huntresses quickly ran down the walkway to the door, and burst out of it. The outer edge of the rampart was covered in large balustrades. Ash was standing next to one of the balustrades' spires, her daggers nowhere in sight. "Why would you attack a convention that already supports faunus rights!?" Blake demanded

"To make a point," Ash said, her voice filled with venom. "Blake," her voice lost its angry tone as she extended her hand, "come with me. The White Fang has changed since you left, since Cinder fell. We're willing to forgive past transgressions if you'll just help us now. Adam wants nothing more than for you to return."

"No" Blake said coldly. "A White Fang that embraces violence is one I refuse to ally myself with! I will never give up working towards equality, but I refuse to follow the same path as you!"

"Even if he accepted your friends as well?"

"What?" Blake asked in dumbfounded surprise.

"Even if that were true," Yang yelled out, snapping Blake out of her surprise, "you're still a bunch of violent terrorists!"

"We're fighting for our proper place in this world!" Ash roared out. "As if a human like you could understand!"

"You're the one who doesn't understand!" Blake yelled in retaliation. "I've seen what your policies can do to the innocent. How they've played a part in ruining some of Weiss' life."

"You mean to tell me you actually care for a Schnee?" Ash asked in disbelief. "Even with what they've done to us?"

"Weiss is my friend!" Blake yelled out, her voice even colder than it was before. "And I'd give my life to protect her just as I would for Yang or Ruby!"

Ash closed her eyes and sighed sadly. "I guess I'll have to tell him I tried!" she yelled out, pulling her daggers back out. Before either Yang or Blake could react, Ash jumped back several feet across the area as another figure joined the fray.

"You again!?" Ash roared out before she jumped back again, off of the roof. Running to the edge, Blake and Yang saw her land safely on the ground, and glare up at them before running off among the mass of other White Fang members.

"You always show up whenever we're dealing with the White Fang," Yang said, turning to the new arrival, the woman she'd first encountered on the train from Mountain Glenn.

"Consider it fortunate coincidences," the woman said, her back still turned to them as she removed her mask. The sound of her voice made Yang's eyes widen as both she and Blake recognized it from the illusion they'd encountered on Valak Mountain.

"It really is you…" Yang said in disbelief.

Raven Branwen turned to face her estranged daughter. Even with her face beginning to show the effects of age, the two of them looked nearly identical in all ways other than hair and eye color.

"Yes, Yang," Raven answered, turning back away from her. "But this encounter, like all of our others, cannot last."

"At least tell me why you left, or why you have that mask, or-"

"In time, you will learn," Raven cut her off, pulling out her sword and slicing the air, creating a dark red portal.

"If you were going to just leave, then why bother revealing who you are in the first place!?" Yang demanded, her anger more than evident.

"Because Qrow should have told you long ago," Raven answered, beginning to walk forward as she put her mask back on.

"Wait!" Yang ran towards her mother, only to be knocked back by a powerful strike to the face from the hilt of Raven's sword. Blake ran to Yang's side without thinking about it, and knelt down, resting her hand on Yang's shoulder. Without another word, Raven walked into the portal, which vanished behind her. "Why does she always leave!?" Yang yelled out in anger. "What is it she finds so much more important than her family?" Blake didn't say anything, and just put her arms around Yang in a tight hug as the blonde woman's voice cracked. "Why do I always feel like I'm nothing to her?" she asked quietly, as she began to cry uncontrollably into Blake's shoulder.

**A/N3: So, before going into what the show's done: Aura Locks. I've been waiting to describe them since day 1 of writing this. I decided to wait until the start of the second arc to explain it instead of immediately upon introducing the term back in Chapter 5 is because I wanted to try and get people invested in the story first instead of just throwing this obviously made up thing at them. I honestly believe that if there's anything in the story that would make people just leave, it's this. On a related note: I've found the way I'm writing the character that is Winter in name only makes her perfect for fulfilling Jaune's role from the show of being able to draw exposition without having characters state things everyone already knows, and that's hilarious to me.**

**A/N4: Now, the show. I knew RWBY would go to some dark places, but holy hell this has just gone from bad to worse to apocalyptically dark, and we still have an episode left of Volume 3! I'm not addressing everything, but here's a few of the larger things:**

**1) Mercury's legs: yes, I obviously figured Remnant had the technology to do that.**

**2) Emerald's semblance: yes, the fact that they don't know about it, makes the idea that they assumed it was Neo that screwed with Yang's fight with Merc in the Vytal Festival very plausible, especially given that I've explained that in my fic's world, illusions aren't seen by electronic surveillance.**

**3) Pyrrha scrapping Penny in front of everyone: no, there's no way I could work that in. Well there is, but unless something just really strikes my fancy or just sits with me in canon, I'm not going to be doing a lot of major rewrites to include it**

**4) Vale being completely overrun with Grimm and the Atlas droids being hacked: no, for the same reason as the previous one due to the following:**

**5) Cinder becoming the new Fall Maiden: no, and the reason for this one is important later on**

**6) Adam's general demeanor while working for Cinder (and likely before): yes, it plays in perfectly with how I've been writing him and his backstory or this. In fact, it makes it even better, but it'll take a while to pay off**

**7) Kevin (according to Reddit) the Grimm Wyvern, er sorry "Dragon", yes and no, It's the same deal with the Maidens, they exist and might get a passing mention, but don't play a part in the story, so not actually appearing at all**

**8) Torchwick being swallowed by a Griffon: no, he's too entertaining for me to accept his death**

**9) Velvet's capabilities: yes, yes, a million times yes, I started cheering the moment the copy of Crescent Rose appeared in her hand. I am **_**beyond**_ **happy that I decided not to come up with any combat abilities for her back in Chapter 10 other than being good with Dust.**

**10) Ironwood being like half robot: yes, it plays in nicely with his and Albero's backstory, and let's be honest, a decent part of the fandom saw his arm being robotic coming for a long time now. Not the reason why he's like that (I have a few ideas though), but just the act that he is is useful for their story. I've actually intentionally not brought up whether Ironwood had any robotic body parts or not as a part of wanting to see if it was actually true or not.**

**11) Salem: no, I'm leaving her entire story to canon.**

**12) Now, to address the Goliath in the room that's been here so long I've named him Willie, Yang's arm: I want to say no. I do, but that scene hit me so hard I doubt I can ignore it going forward, even knowing it's not going to be permanent. She's getting a new arm, it would be pointlessly cruel to deny that to her given what's happened with Mercury and Ironwood. Obviously she'll have some things to work through mentally, but that's not the point. EDIT: see last note for specifics on what's been changed if you don't feel like rereading all the present day chapters (let's be honest, it's kind of a lot to go through)**

**A/N5: So with that out of the way, I'm going to discuss Flashback chapters. Basically why: They're there to give characters that otherwise have rather limited appearance time compared to the others actual, well character. To show who these people are, or were. Now, obviously this applies to our masked "friends", but, under the right circumstances, I'll also do this for others. I bring this up because Raven isn't someone who sticks around long when she does show up, and so next chapter will be a flashback about her, where I try and show the kind of person she is in this story.**

**A/N6-P: So details on Yang's new arm.**

**1) Time frame: I've decided that aside from things that I've explicitly stated aren't or can't be included in earlier notes, the first six episodes of Volume 3 play out exactly the same in my fic's backstory as they do in the show. Afterwards things begin to really diverge. So, for this fic's backstory, in the aftermath of Yang being disqualified due to breaking Merc's leg seemingly unprovoked, info comes to light that the fight was tampered with. Figuring illusions and Neo were at play, things are looked into and we have Qrow literally dragging Oobleck to Yang for a lesson on illusion semblances. Some time afterwards, the team comes across the White Fang doing, well White Fang things, they try to interfere, and it turns out Adam was present. And a fight between him and Blake and Yang ends... well more or less the same way it does in the show. Yang disarmed, and Blake carrying her off.**

**2) How Yang got her arm: Ironwood, who was supposed to be in charge of security, along with a little prodding from Ozpin, and a lot of prodding from Qrow, has an arm built for her by Albero's department. Part of the arm includes Dust conduits that, at the time, were in the last stage of testing so the arm could take advantage of Yang's Aura and Semblance for power and strength, so Lehti, being the head of Dust, came from Atlas along with the arm, and made sure the conduits were working at the time.**

**3) Yang's (and Blake's) mental state: losing her arm, and Blake blaming herself for it (but not running off), left her severely depressed (which is how she seemed to me in the finale), and after she got her arm back, and got Blake to talk with her again along with Weiss and Ruby support, she got out of it. Blake however, still blames herself for it, and Yang knows it.**

**4) Yang's outfit: Yang's new outfit basically has her covering it up with a large glove. The arm's design makes it look like a normal arm under the clothing. However, its left uncovered if she's in her pajamas, and if she's mostly dressed but isn't fully ready to head out of their apartment yet, she also doesn't have it covered most of the time.**

**5) Story alterations: nothing important. Only a few details here and there, or some dialogue. The only large change was that the reason Albero was at the hospital when Ironwood was there to speak with Yang was because Ironwood wanted him to look over it to make sure everything was fine with it as opposed to just kinda being there.**


End file.
